Machinists at McDonnell Strike Over Outsourcing
McDonnell Douglas Corp. machinists picketed a St. Louis plant Wednesday, beginning what is expected to be an extended strike over the aircraft maker’s plans to give union jobs to outside contractors.
Workers formed picket lines at 12:01 a.m., after contract talks broke down and following Sunday’s rejection of a company offer by members of the 6,700-member union.
After three months of negotiations, no further talks have been scheduled between McDonnell Douglas and officials of the union, which represents about a third of the plant’s work force.
“It’s going to be a while,” said Richard Horn, a federal mediator involved in the dispute.
At issue is a plan by the nation’s second-largest aerospace and defense company to implement so-called outsourcing. The practice, in which a company gives work once done by union members to outside companies, helped prompt strikes at General Motors Corp. and Boeing Co. plants in the last six months.
“Our members are sick of watching their jobs go out the door while company profits go up,” Gerald Oulson, president of the St. Louis chapter of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said in a statement.
McDonnell Douglas, St. Louis’ biggest employer, vowed to keep operating for the duration of the strike. Company spokesman Tom Williams said salaried workers are being used to make military jets and missiles. More than 15,000 nonunion employees work at McDonnell Douglas, many of them engineers.
The strike affects only McDonnell Douglas’ St. Louis facility, where workers assemble the F-15 and F/A-18 fighters, missiles and parts of the C-17 military transport. They also overhaul the AV-8B attack plane.
Work on those planes generated earnings of $250 million for McDonnell Douglas during the first quarter. The company’s first-quarter earnings totaled $347 million.
McDonnell Douglas shares were unchanged at $51.25.
“I don’t think there will be [a reaction from investors] for quite a while,” said Paul Nisbet, an analyst at JSA Research. McDonnell Douglas “has a good chance of being able to do most of the work with their current work force.”
Negotiations broke down late Tuesday night. Williams said talks stopped after the union overwhelmed management with several new proposals, including demands for a $1,500 bonus and job guarantees for all union members. IAM spokesman Matt Bates called Williams’ response a “hissy fit.”
McDonnell Douglas offered the union wage and pension increases. It also promised to employ at least 5,000 machinists between now and 2000, and to provide up to $5,000 to retrain laid-off workers. And it agreed to give the union 30 days’ notice before implementing outsourcing plans that would eliminate 100 or more machinist jobs. During that time, the union would have a chance to make a counterproposal to save the jobs.
In a letter to employees, Herbert Lanese, president of the company’s aerospace unit, said the company’s offer to the union was unique.
“No other U.S. defense contractor has agreed to terms like these,” he said. The union’s stand goes “against our efforts to win new business and to secure work and additional investment for our St. Louis operation.”
Rented school buses carried hundreds of machinists to picket lines at each gate of the sprawling McDonnell Douglas facility in north St. Louis County. Police added to their patrols, but reported no problems.
