[Walter_Middie]

From my desk, I can see about a dozen IAM picketers. No one is happy about this strike, but there are a few issues that brought the IAM to this point.

The members don’t really like the union, but they don’t trust Boeing to do the right thing unless they have the union to apply pressure. So for most people, the union is a necessary evil.

In past contracts, the IAM has agreed to reduced benefits when times where not as good for the company, with the promise that the benefits would return when the company is doing well. The company now has a huge back-log of orders – where’s the payback? If not now, then when?

The company has been trying to build airplanes using less and less people. Our factories are “Lean”, having less people doing more of the work. Working smarter, not harder, usually results in less people doing the work many more used to do. The result is mandatory overtime, long hours, and working mandatory weekends. This doesn’t sound too bad at first, but when it goes on and on, month after month, it gets tiresome. I would think there are many IAM folks that are looking at this strike as their only chance at a break from all the work.

The 11% wage increase is over 3 years. The first year they will get a 5% increase, and in the 2nd and 3rd year, they will get a 3% increase. Inflation is usually 2 to 3% per year – so what are they left with in the long run? Just keeping up with normal inflation? And hasn’t our inflation lately been running much higher than this?

Both the union and the company lose from a strike – I think all the IAM members realize this. For the IAM members, it’s not about whether they come out ahead this time. It’s about the future – it’s about the new hires that will be trying to earn enough money to raise a family – it’s about protecting benefits for retirees that have worked 30 or more years to receive, and it’s about sharing the wealth of this countries largest exporter during times of record profits and new airplane orders.