Boeing & IAM: Disappointed but not surprised
2014Eduardo Quintana 2014-02Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 5 →
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How could it be otherwise? Reopened contract? One week to vote? Election forced on them by the International, spearheaded by a retired (not ac countable to future elections, former vice-pres ident of the IAM). Boom. Politicians pressuring, pension stealing, health costs rising, eight-year concessionary contract accepted.
Giving up pensions for new hires means no one will have them in the future. It is also part of the relentless attack on unions that has been going on since Reagan’s destruction of PATCO in 1981. It is union busting on the installment plan, with a longterm perspective that will never stop. It is part of the plan to pauperize the entire working class and turn the clock back to the time of Charles Dickens’ Oliver Twist and debtors’ prisons.
It is corporations and their government using the same divide-and-conquer strategy that pits worker against worker, union member against union member, local unions against international, region against region, young against old, Black against White or White against Brown (Arizona’s SB 1070), the future against the present, rightto-work states against closed shop, Washington against Utah, Texas, and South Carolina.
Unions, including my local, have been reeling from this strategy for years, most years, accepting concessions because of strategies that promote meek collaboration instead of courageous fightback. On the shop floor it is “look out for yourself” individualistic self-interest instead of collective self-defense of all members.
It is business unionism (you elected us to lead, go away and let us lead) instead of reliance on our col lective strength. In the political arena, our strategy means accepting a so-called compromise between Democrats (supposedly pro-worker) and Republi cans (pro-corporate) where working people lose every time.
These types of concessionary contracts and loss es will continue until unions reject individualistic self-interest, build independent political action and embrace solidarity of the entire working class.
“Workers of the world awaken. Break your chains, demand your rights. All the wealth you make is taken, by exploiting parasites. Shall you kneel in deep submission from your cradle to your grave? Is the height of your ambition to be a good and willing slave?”—Joe Hill The assault on us, the working people, will never end until we end it. n Eduardo Quintana is a retired former president of IAM Local Lodge 933, Tucson, Ariz. 737 replacement around 2020, “Boeing will take us through this all over again,” he said.
“Boeing will come back to the unions and say, ‘Give us more concessions,’ ” Hamilton said. “It will come back to the state and say, ‘Give us more tax breaks.’
Wilson Ferguson, president of Local A (the largest local within District Lodge 751), stated in a message to his members, “There is a lot of talk of pulling out of the International, that is a self-defeating proposition. Our best strategy is to remove Buffy (IAM President Tom Buffenbarger) from office. That campaign starts today. The loss of our pension is a big blow. Not only to us but to workers across the country.” The new system places more of the risk of retirement security on the workers, leaving the company largely risk-free. It will match employee contributions up to a certain level, but there’s no guarantee that it won’t seek to cut that commitment in the future.
John Kleiboeker, a Boeing worker of 16 years and the president of the Machinists local Lodge 63 told The Oregonian, “I’ve got 15 years to retirement and I am looking at a loss of $250,000”.
There will also be a loss to the white-collar work ers at Boeing, organized in the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA). Those 21,000 local members will clearly be next in line to have their pensions frozen when the union’s contract expires in 2016. Weakening Boeing’s strongest union will make SPEEA’s position much weaker.
Perhaps the most shocking concession of all—given the claims of politicians and IAM officials that this of (continued on page 11, in “Kazakhstan hit by layoffs”)
SOCIALIST ACTION FEBRUARY 2014 5