Some Boeing employees are organizing a march in Everett, Wash., Wednesday trying to convince their union to allow a vote on a final contract offer from the company over building the next generation of Boeing 777s. The 777X will continue one of Boeing’s most successful aircraft lines and provide decades of work but the leadership of the International Machinists Union rejected the Dec. 12 offer without taking it to a vote. Boeing says it’s not really interested in the vote either. It’s focused again on sorting through 54 offers from other cities vying to build the big airplane.
After the union voted two to one to reject an earlier offer, the company told the union in November that if it couldn’t get a deal it would shop the airplane around. It took only a few weeks to attract the dozens of offers. The company and union went back to the bargaining table on Dec. 12 but only briefly. Although there were some changes to the company offer the union said the main issue of pensions was not addressed and said there would be no vote. Those organizing the march say they believe that if the most recent offer was put to a vote that it would pass. The majority of people I have talked to in my work area would vote yes on this, organizer Paul Fritzler told the Puget Sound Business Journal. My son-in-law works on a different line than I do; everyone he spoke with would vote yes on this.
