STRIKE 2005

Daily Update - Local Lodge 2766

13 Dec 2005

Most Boeing strikers hold out - some machinists return to work as benefits end

BY TODD HALVORSON
FLORIDA TODAY

CAPE CANAVERAL, Dec 13 - Some striking Boeing machinists in Florida, Alabama and California are returning to work after the loss of paychecks and the expiration of medical-insurance coverage, union and company officials said.

But an overwhelming majority of strikers at two national spaceports -- Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California -- are holding out for a contract without benefits concessions.

"Five weeks into the strike, and especially with the holidays coming up, that says a lot about the fortitude of the members," said Kevin Cummings, a spokesman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents the striking workers.

"They are fighting in the best tradition of trade unionism," he said. "It shows the determination of the membership."

About 1,500 machinists at The Boeing Co. walked off the job Nov. 2, after the company and the union failed to come to terms on a three-year contract. Their previous agreement -- which expired Oct. 23 -- provided for base annual wages between $14,123 and $61,755.

Most of the machinists work on the company's Delta rocket program. The strike prompted an indefinite delay in the planned launch of an advanced weather satellite from Cape Canaveral for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration.

Also on hold are the launches of a NASA atmospheric science mission and a classified National Reconnaissance Office payload at Vandenberg.

Boeing is using a small squad of managers and supervisors to finish work on an upper-stage rocket that will propel a plutonium-powered NASA spacecraft on a mission to Pluto, with the launch planned for Jan. 11.

A delay past Feb. 14 would force NASA to postpone the mission until early 2007, the next time the planets are aligned properly for the trip.

The 1,500 workers who walked out included 378 machinists at the two spaceports -- 282 at Cape Canaveral and 96 at Vandenberg, said Boeing spokeswoman Tina Lange.

The total also includes another 365 in Huntington Beach, Calif., where the company's Delta program office is headquartered, and 294 at Boeing's Delta rocket manufacturing plant in Decatur, Ala.

The remainder of the striking workers are at other Boeing facilities throughout the country.

Boeing would not comment on the number of machinists who have returned to work.

Union spokesman Cummings, however, said about 80 percent of the machinists remain on the picket lines. That number is roughly equivalent to the percentage that voted to strike, he said.

The percentage of workers who remain on strike at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg is even higher: about 90 percent, Cummings said.

The striking workers remain on picket lines, even though they received their last paycheck Nov. 30. Medical-insurance coverage expired that day, too, Lange said.

Some returned to work because they or family members needed medical benefits -- an understandable predicament, Cummings said.

But others crossed the picket line despite issues union members have with Boeing's best and final contract proposal.

"Some just didn't have the gumption to stand together and fight," Cummings said. "We're extremely disappointed in some who went back for no other reason than they have no backbone."

Boeing proposed a contract that called for cost-of-living allowances, plus a $3,000 lump-sum payment in the first year, a 2 percent wage increase in the second year and a 2.5 percent increase in the third year.

Union spokesman Robert Wood said the pay package would not keep pace with inflation. Health care costs to the employees would rise, and new hires would not be eligible for medical and life-insurance benefits in retirement, he said.

No new negotiations are scheduled, and the company is holding its ground, too.

"We're certainly disappointed that there has been no resolution to the strike to date," Lange said. "We're still hoping that these employees will see that we've made an extremely fair offer."

Those who remain on the picket lines are eligible for $150 a week from the union's strike fund. Many have taken second jobs or part-time work to make ends meet, Cummings said.

"I think that the fact that 80 percent of the membership still is out five weeks into the strike and during the Christmas holidays is impressive," Cummings said.

"A lot of the members are having to tell their kids that Christmas isn't going to be like it was last year, but they have to stand up for their principles."