Boeing employees vote to accept new contract, or strike
Workers at Boeing made shirts in support of a strike and wore them to the vote Thursday at the Grant County Fairgrounds. From left to right are Bao Nguyen, Marvin Soysouvanh, Vannak Meas, Bal Tim, Thoeun Prom and Veasna Pung. No one in the group wanted to comment on the matter to the press.
NANCE BESTON/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
MOSES LAKE — Employees at Moses Lake’s Boeing facility voted Thursday whether the new contract offered by Boeing is acceptable or if they should reaffirm a strike. Employees originally voted on the strike July 17 before the contract proposal.
“They're going to make two votes today. One's going to be whether to accept or reject the contract, and the second is going to be whether or not to reaffirm the strike vote,” Director of Communications at IAM District Lodge 751 Deirdre Kaniewski said.
An IAM 751 Sept. 7 press release said that the offer includes raises, including a 25% general wage increase and job security; healthcare cost share is lowered, retirement security is enhanced, members will only have one set of progression steps in their career, vacation time will be available for those who earn it, secure upgrades for certain job codes and improved overtime limits.
According to Kaniewski, voting ends at 6 p.m. and the vote count will be in at around 9 to 10 p.m., which is past press deadline. Two-thirds of employees must vote to not accept the contract and instead strike or else the contract will go into effect at midnight Thursday.
“We've heard what’s important to you for the new contract. And we have reached a tentative agreement with the union on a historic offer that takes care of you and your family,” Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Stephanie Pope said in a Sept. 8 press release. “The contract offer provides the largest-ever general wage increase, lower medical cost share to make healthcare more affordable, greater company contributions toward your retirement, and improvements for a better work-life balance.”
The strike would begin at midnight with around 33,000 members picketing Thursday, according to Kaniewski. In Moses Lake, members will be picketing at Boeing’s main gates if members vote that a strike is necessary.
“I want to go on strike and get better pay,” Chance McGarrah, a six-year employee at Boeing said. “I want more time off, better wages and more accountability. I hope the employees agree that we need to strike. We need more accountability for the work done on the aircraft too, but that’s not part of this deal though. I think they might keep the employees who are not being held accountable and just pay them more.”
In an IAM 751 Sept. 9 press release it details that the tentative agreement is not certain, fixed or final. However, the union has done everything they could in bargaining, short of strike, which the release does not recommend because it can’t guarantee more will come out of the strike.
“We are voting on a strike,” Damien Simison, a 16-year-long employee at Boeing said. “Our contract hasn’t been updated in 16 years or so, and it is time for us to get paid for the work we do. We want to tell them we aren’t greedy, we just deserved to get paid our worth.”
More coverage of this to come in upcoming editions of the Columbia Basin Herald.