Boeing’s threats allowed by National Labor Relations Act
Jim Albaugh, CEO of Boeing, is to be applauded for his remarkable candor. In his interview with The Times reporter Dominic Gates [“Boeing exec: ‘This is where we want to be,’.” page one, Mar. 2], he made it crystal clear that unless King, Pierce and Snohomish counties convert themselves into a virtually union-free environment, they can plan on saying bye bye to Boeing. Boeing management has been making this threat indirectly for more than 10 years.
Amazingly, there have been absolutely no reports in any media outlets about local business, political or labor leaders raising the question: “What makes Albaugh and other Boeing executives so confident that by moving Boeing facilities out of Puget Sound they can ensure low wages, minuscule benefits and a work force without enforceable rights in their new location?”
That confidence is rooted in Boeing’s awareness of Section 14(b) of the National Labor Relations Act, which allows states such as South Carolina to impose financial starvation on labor unions by making it illegal for union security clauses to appear in collective bargaining agreements.
It is time for our local leaders — who have seen firsthand the great value of collective bargaining — to set in motion a movement to repeal Section 14(b). Such repeal would, inter alia, stop Boeing from making its periodic threats of departure.
— Daniel M. Mahoney, Mercer Island
Machinist magicians and overcompensated executives
Don’t worry, Boeing executive Jim Albaugh told The Times, the company wants to stay in the Seattle area, but the machinists who produce Boeing’s planes — and profits — just can’t strike. Albaugh added, “We can’t afford to continue the rate of escalation of wages.”
Albaugh referred to Boeing workers as “magicians.” With some entry rates beginning as low as $12 to $13 an hour, it would take a magician to raise a family in the Seattle area on that kind of income.
Once again, The Times referenced the 2008 machinists strike with no mention of Boeing’s $13 billion after-tax profit during the five years before the strike. As for the “escalation of wages,” the sidebar about Albaugh’s aerospace career refers to his 2009 bonus — awarded after the dreaded strike — “of more than $3 million in shares on top of his regular annual bonus of more than $1 million in shares.”
Escalation of wages indeed! Apparently the escalator works quite well for some.
— Geoff Mirelowitz, Seattle