{"id":385672,"date":"2010-03-03T18:55:52","date_gmt":"2010-03-03T23:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/seattletimes.nwsource.com\/html\/northwestvoices\/2011248628_boeingwillitstayorwillitgo.html?syndication=rss"},"modified":"2010-03-03T18:55:52","modified_gmt":"2010-03-03T23:55:52","slug":"boeing-will-it-stay-or-will-it-go","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/385672","title":{"rendered":"Boeing: will it stay or will it go?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Boeing\u2019s threats allowed by National Labor Relations Act<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jim Albaugh, CEO of Boeing, is to be applauded for his remarkable candor. In his interview with The Times reporter Dominic Gates [\u201cBoeing exec: \u2018This is where we want to be,\u2019.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Amazingly, there have been absolutely no reports in any media outlets about local business, political or labor leaders raising the question: \u201cWhat 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

That confidence is rooted in Boeing\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

It is time for our local leaders \u2014 who have seen firsthand the great value of collective bargaining \u2014 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.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Daniel M. Mahoney, Mercer Island<\/em><\/p>\n

Machinist magicians and overcompensated executives<\/strong><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t worry, Boeing executive Jim Albaugh told The Times, the company wants to stay in the Seattle area, but the machinists who produce Boeing\u2019s planes \u2014 and profits \u2014 just can\u2019t strike. Albaugh added, \u201cWe can\u2019t afford to continue the rate of escalation of wages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Albaugh referred to Boeing workers as \u201cmagicians.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n

Once again, The Times referenced the 2008 machinists strike with no mention of Boeing\u2019s $13 billion after-tax profit during the five years before the strike. As for the \u201cescalation of wages,\u201d the sidebar about Albaugh\u2019s aerospace career refers to his 2009 bonus \u2014 awarded after the dreaded strike \u2014 \u201cof more than $3 million in shares on top of his regular annual bonus of more than $1 million in shares.\u201d<\/p>\n

Escalation of wages indeed! Apparently the escalator works quite well for some.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Geoff Mirelowitz, Seattle<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boeing\u2019s 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 [\u201cBoeing exec: \u2018This is where we want to be,\u2019.\u201d page one, Mar. 2], he made it crystal clear that unless King, Pierce and Snohomish counties […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-385672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2861"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385672\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}