Boeing Mechaniker im Streik

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Boeing-Mechaniker streiken erstmals seit zehn Jahren

New York (APA/Reuters) - Die Mechaniker des US-Flugzeugbauers Boeing sind am Freitag erstmals seit zehn Jahren für eine bessere Bezahlung in den Ausstand getreten. 86 Prozent der 18.500 Boeing-Mechaniker hätten sich für den Streik ausgesprochen, teilte der Verband der Mechaniker und Beschäftigten in der Luft- und Raumfahrt (IAM) auf seiner Internet-Seite mit. Vor den Werken im US-Bundesstaat Washington seien Streikposten positioniert worden. Zuvor hatten die Gewerkschaftsmitglieder ein neues Angebot von Boeing abgelehnt. Einem Boeing-Sprecher zufolge wird der US-Konzern während des Streiks keine Flugzeuge bauen.

In jüngster Zeit konnte der US-Konzern gegenüber seinem Erzrivalen, dem europäischen Flugzeugbauer Airbus, wieder leicht Boden gut machen. Der Streik könnte sich nicht nur auf das Ergebnis von Boeing auswirken, sondern auch Airbus in die Hände spielen. Bei dem letzten zehn-wöchigen Streik der Boeing-Mechaniker 1995 verzögerten sich die Auslieferungen und belasteten das Ergebnis des US-Konzerns.

Boeing und die Gewerkschaft haben drei Monate über die Tarife verhandelt. Zuletzt bot Boeing seinen Mechanikern in den Werken Seattle, Washington und Portland eine Gehaltserhöhung von 5,5 Prozent und eine monatliche Pensionszahlung von 66 Dollar (53,3 Euro) je Jahr der Beschäftigung an. Zusätzlich sollten die Arbeiter eine Einmalzahlung und Boni von bis zu 15.400 Dollar erhalten.

Die Gewerkschaft bezeichnete das Angebot von Boeing als "beleidigend" und Arbeitsplatz vernichtend. Sie forderte eine höhere Pensionszahlung und lehnte die Vorschläge zur Gesundheitsversorgung der Mitarbeiter ab. Damit würden die Kosten auf die Angestellten abgewälzt, erklärte sie. (Forts. mögl.) kle

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Langsam hat der Streik Auswirkungen - die ersten Zulieferer schieben Kurzarbeit.

Bernhard

[N5528P]

Und jetzt überlegt Boeing sogar die Fertigung temporär einzustellen.

LG, Bernhard

Saturday, September 10, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
If walkout continues, Boeing eyes shutdown

By David Bowermaster
Seattle Times aerospace reporter

If the walkout by the Machinists union at Boeing does not end soon, the company could face a difficult decision.

Does it proceed with the full "orderly shutdown" of Boeing Commercial Airplanes that Alan Mulally, chief executive of the unit, warned would follow a Machinists strike?

Or, does Boeing keep as many people working as long as possible to avoid antagonizing the rest of its work force?

The outcome is of great interest to the nearly 20,000 Boeing engineers and technical workers represented by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), most of whom are in the Puget Sound area.

Boeing is in talks with SPEEA on a contract to replace the existing pact, which expires Dec. 1.

SPEEA attorneys this week determined Boeing can temporarily lay off SPEEA members without providing a 60-day warning notice during a strike by the International Association of Machinists (IAM), District 751, according to Bill Dugovich, a SPEEA spokesman.

Such furloughs, however, would not be looked on kindly.

"In all of the previous strikes by the IAM or other (workers), we have never experienced layoffs," he said. "It would be extremely detrimental to the long-term health of the company if they began penalizing other workers."

No SPEEA members have been told they face layoffs, Dugovich said.

Immediately after the IAM voted Sept. 1 to go on strike, Boeing said in a statement that "all employees willing to continue working will be afforded the opportunity to do so for as long as there is meaningful work to perform."

Boeing spokesman Chaz Bickers said the company's position has not changed. He declined to elaborate on Boeing's definition of "meaningful work," or how long it will last. The 10-day-old strike shows no signs of ending.

The engineers and technical workers union has had scattered reports of Boeing managers asking SPEEA members to do Machinists' jobs, from running machines to emptying trash cans. SPEEA has instructed members to politely decline, Dugovich said, but to do the work if ordered by managers. SPEEA leaders will take the issues up with Boeing separately.

Meanwhile, SPEEA negotiators continue to meet with Boeing. The union expects to deliver its initial contract proposal to Boeing by the end of next week.

Main negotiations between SPEEA and Boeing are due to begin Nov. 1.

David Bowermaster: 206-464-2724 or dbowermaster@seattletimes.com

Das ORiginal findet ihr hier: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/boeingaerospace/2002484403_boeing10.html

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Boeing ebnet mit neuem Tarifvertrag Weg für Streik-Ende

Seattle (dpa) - Boeing hat sich mit der Mechanikergewerkschaft IAM auf ein neues dreijähriges Tarifabkommen geeinigt. Damit dürfte der seit Anfang September andauernde Streik von mehr als 18.300 Boeing- Mechanikern zu Ende gehen. Durch den Streik war die gesamte Boeing- Verkehrsflugzeugproduktion lahm gelegt worden. Auch die Zulieferanten waren schwer betroffen.

Die Gewerkschaftsmitglieder der IAM (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) werden am Donnerstag in einer Urabstimmung über den neuen Tarifvertrag entscheiden und könnten bei Annahme die Arbeit mit der dritten Schicht am selben Tag wieder aufnehmen, teilte Boeing am Sonntagabend mit. Die Gewerkschaft empfahl ihren Mitgliedern die Annahme des Tarifvertrags.

Die Gewerkschaft setzte ihre Forderungen nach höheren Betriebsrentenzahlungen sowie nach einem Verzicht auf Zuzahlungen der Arbeitnehmer zur betrieblichen Krankenversorgung durch. Die Boeing- Arbeiter erhalten im ersten Jahr einen Bonus von acht Prozent oder rund 5200 Dollar je Mitarbeiter. Im zweiten und dritten Jahr gibt es jeweils eine Zahlung von 3000 Dollar. Die Boeing-Arbeiter verdienen momentan im Schnitt 59.000 Dollar pro Jahr. Es sind keine Lohnerhöhungen vorgesehen, sondern nur ein Inflationsausgleich von einem Prozent pro Jahr. Boeing hatte in dem vorher von der Gewerkschaft abgelehnten Tarifangebot 2,5 Prozent Lohnerhöhung und 6000 Dollar an Zusatzahlungen offeriert.

Hauptstreitpunkt waren die Betriebsrenten. Boeing zahlt künftig für jedes Jahr Betriebszugehörigkeit eines Mitarbeiters 70 Dollar Betriebsrente, während vorher nur 66 Dollar angeboten worden waren. Die Gewerkschaft hatte 80 Dollar verlangt. Damit erhält ein Boeing- Arbeiter, der nach 20 Jahren Betriebszugehörigkeit in den Ruhestand geht, eine Betriebsrente von 1400 Dollar pro Monat. Nach 30 Jahren bei Boeing stehen ihm jährlich 2100 Dollar zu.

Die Gewerkschaft befand sich angesichts des hohen Boeing- Auftragsbestands für Verkehrsflugzeuge in einer starken Verhandlungsposition, weil sich der Airbus-Konkurrent keine langfristigen Produktionsunterbrechungen leisten konnte. Frühere Boeing-Streiks hatten meist viel länger gedauert. Allan Mulally, Chef der Verkehrsflugzeugsparte Boeing Commercial Airplanes, hob hervor, dass die Gesamtkosten für Boeing ähnlich hoch seien wie bei dem vorherigen Angebot. Er sprach von einer "vernünftigen Vereinbarung". dpa br xx uw

[SubStyle]

was ich da nicht ganz checke,
einmal wird bei 20 jahren betriebszugehörigkeit von 1400 Dollar pro monat gesprochen und dann bei 30 jahren wird von 2100 Dollar pro jahr gesprochen . ich glaub da hat sich jemand verschrieben oder check ichs einfach nicht?

[N5528P]

Der Streik dürfte langsam zu Ende gehen:

Thursday, September 29, 2005
Striking workers disagree on Boeing contractMachinists will vote today on revised offer

By ALLISON LINN
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Dean Lincoln figures that the wages he lost during four weeks on strike from The Boeing Co. are nothing compared with what he'd have paid in extra health care costs if striking Machinists had agreed to the first contract the company offered.

But Lincoln also had been back on the job for only a month -- after being laid off for 2 1/2 years -- before the strike began Sept. 2, so it was tough to lose a paycheck. The Lake Stevens resident will be voting today to accept a revised offer and return to work, but he's unhappy it had to come down to a strike at all.

"They should've offered it the first time," Lincoln said this week, while picketing outside Boeing's sprawling facilities in Everett, where 747s and 777s are assembled.

About 18,400 members of the Machinists union in the Puget Sound area, Gresham, Ore., and Wichita, Kan., will vote today on the revised contract. The union's leaders, who reached agreement with Boeing late last week, recommend that workers accept it.

A simple majority is needed to approve or reject the offer. If workers approve it, they would immediately stop striking and could return to work for their next shift.

Union leaders say the tentative agreement addresses pensions and health care benefits, the issues most important to a membership that averages 49 years of age and is paid an average of $59,000 a year.

The union had recommended that members reject the previous contract offer over those same issues, prompting the first Machinists strike at Boeing in a decade.

For some members, this year's contract battle also was about making up for what they perceived to be a subpar contract negotiated in 2002, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which hurt the aerospace industry and led to thousands of layoffs at Boeing. Now that Boeing's fortunes are improving, the union argued that workers should benefit, too.

Under the proposed contract, workers would see no changes to current health care premiums, a move union leaders say will save members between $2,000 and $4,000 per year over the costs in the rejected offer. That offer increased premiums for workers in response to soaring health care costs nationwide.

The new agreement also increases pension payouts by nearly 17 percent to $70 per month for every year worked. The previous offer increased that figure to $66, from $60 currently.

There is no general wage increase, but workers would receive lump sum payments totaling about $11,000 over the contract's three years. Boeing dropped a plan to offer incentive payments based on whether the company meets or exceeds financial targets.

Boeing says the total cost of the new offer is similar to that of the rejected offer.

Scott Martin of Sedro-Woolley plans to vote for the contract because of the provision that keeps health care costs at current levels. He said he wasn't as concerned about pensions as some of his colleagues are because, at age 40, retirement seems far off. A more immediate concern was paying his bills while out on strike, and he had to borrow a little money from his parents to get through.

"It's always a tough question whether it was worth it, because you never get that money back," he said of the lost wages. "But sometimes you've got to stand up and fight."

But other Machinists -- especially some who are closer to retirement -- say the union should hold out for an even better deal.

R.C. Cook of Everett turns 55 this year, and after 24 years working on various airplanes, he would like to retire soon. He's disappointed the new contract didn't increase pension payouts even further and there is still a penalty for early retirement.

Cook also worries his fellow union members are thinking only of superficial perks -- such as the approximately $5,000 payment that would come late this year -- and aren't concerned enough about issues such as job security and weekend work. He'll vote against the proposed contract.

"Everybody's looking at the icing on the cake," he said.
Don Grinde, 48 and from Marysville, is disappointed there is no general wage increase, which he says would be worth a lot more in the long term than the yearly cash payouts. He also would like to have seen better pension benefits and more job security guarantees. Grinde plans to vote against the new contract, although he's betting he'll be in the minority.

"If we're going to go out on strike, then we need to make it worthwhile," he said.

Despite the layoffs, labor strife and other grumbling, it's common to find workers on the picket line who have been assembling Boeing planes for decades. Lincoln, the worker who was recently rehired, said he has no plans to leave Boeing, where he's worked for almost 15 years.

While he was laid off he got an associate's degree in civil engineering technology, but the jobs in that field pay $15,000 to $20,000 less than his approximately $50,000 Boeing salary.

"It's hard to find the kind of benefits and the pay" that Boeing workers receive, he said.

Den Artikel findet ihr unter: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/242613_boeunion29.html

Posted on Thu, Sep. 29, 2005

Boeing plans beyond strike

Should Machinists ratify a new contract, work could be back on track within a few weeks, a company official says.

BY MOLLY MCMILLIN

It will take Boeing's Wichita operations only a week or so to catch up on the work slowed by the Machinists strike should union members ratify Boeing's three-year contract offer today, a top Boeing official said Wednesday.

In spite of the strike, "we've gotten a lot of things done in the interim," said Boeing Integrated Defense Systems chief executive and president Jim Albaugh, who visited the site Wednesday.

The offer members are voting on today is a good one, he said. Boeing may have been able to get more concessions from the union if the strike had dragged on, Albaugh said, "But the cost of being out of work for several weeks overwhelms any savings we might have achieved or any concessions that the union might have gotten from us."

Machinists members in Wichita and the Pacific Northwest rejected Boeing's offer and walked off the job Sept. 2. The two sides reached a tentative contract agreement over the weekend.

Union leaders recommended members ratify the contract, which increases pensions, removes increases to health care costs, offers an 8 percent ratification bonus in the first year and a $3,000 lump sum bonus in each of the next two years.

Boeing's offer also eliminates an earlier proposal that offered Wichita workers less than their counterparts in Washington and Oregon.

Wichita's business is different from that in the Pacific Northwest, Albaugh said. Boeing's commercial airplane business in Puget Sound competes with Airbus SAS.

"We are in the mod (modification), repair and upgrades business here," he said. "We compete against a different set of competitors. We have a rate structure that's higher than (the) competitors."

Now, "we're going to have to really work hard to keep the costs down," Albaugh said. That includes expenses such as those associated with infrastructure, information technologies and utilities, he said.

Some Wichita workers have said they worry that Boeing will eventually sell or move its military work out of Wichita. But, Albaugh said, if Boeing was going to sell the Wichita defense business, it would have made more sense to have done it at the time it sold the commercial airplane business to Onex Corp.

"Boeing is here for the long haul," he said.
Boeing still expects to win a government contract for Boeing 767 tankers, he said. But it may be spring 2006 before there is a request for proposals, he said.

To cut costs for the government, Boeing now plans to incorporate structural changes to the plane in the manufacturing process as it moves down the production line.

That's a change from the original plan to build a 767, then fly it to Wichita for extensive structural modifications required for a tanker, Albaugh said.

Despite the change, "there will be a role for Wichita," he said. "We're trying to sort that all out."

Wichita also will gain work should Boeing win an Air Force contract that would use B-52 bombers to improve radar jamming. The government is expected to award the contract, worth more than $200 million, in the next four to six weeks.

If successful, Boeing Wichita would primarily be involved in the engineering work for the program, Albaugh said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reach Molly McMillin at 269-6708 or mmcmillin@wichitaeagle.com

Artikel zu finden unter: http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/business/12767318.htm

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Endgültig vorbei!

Boeing Machinists back in the fold
4-week strike ends; pension, insurance issues resolved

By JAMES WALLACE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER AEROSPACE REPORTER

The shortest Machinists strike in four decades against The Boeing Co. is over.

Just a few hours short of 28 days, the strike ended Thursday night after Machinists in the Puget Sound region, in the Portland area and in Wichita, Kan., voted 80 percent in favor of a new three-year contract with the company that will give them better pension benefits and freeze their health insurance costs at current levels.

Picketing immediately ended at Boeing's commercial jetliner plants in Everett and in Renton, where production of planes had been stopped since the strike began at 12:01 a.m. Sept. 2. The first Machinists were expected to be back on the job by 11 p.m. Thursday for the third shift.

Machinists are not required to return to work until Oct. 12.

They voted overwhelmingly four weeks ago -- by 86 percent -- to walk out after rejecting the company's final offer, which union leaders called "insulting."

"It never had to come down to this," union President Mark Blondin said moments before he announced the strike was over. He told union members who gathered to hear the vote results at union headquarters near Boeing Field that this was the first union in years that had gotten a significant increase in pensions without having to give up health care benefits.

"Since the 1990s, no union in North America has held the line on health care and retiree medical -- costs that have risen dramatically," Blondin said. "Our members did just that in this strike."

Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Alan Mulally, too, said he was pleased with the vote results, and now it's time to get back to building airplanes again.

"Our focus now shifts to ensuring a smooth restart of our production system and a return to a steady flow of airplane deliveries to our customers," he said in a statement. "Boeing Commercial Airplanes is healthy and competitive. We have tremendous momentum in the market and a very bright future."

This was the sixth strike by Machinists against Boeing since 1948. They were out for 69 days in 1995 and 48 days in 1989. The shortest strike was 19 days in 1965.

Many Machinists, as well as industry analysts, had expected this strike would last much longer. But last Friday, Mulally met secretly in Washington, D.C., with union leaders to try to bring the strike to a quick end. To get back to building airplanes again for customers that need them, the company gave ground on several key issues, and the union leadership recommended that Boeing's revised offer be accepted.

"It was an amazing turnaround in the last week," said David Achman, who works on the F/A-22 jet fighter program at Boeing's Developmental Center near Boeing Field. He voted Thursday afternoon at the nearby union headquarters to accept the contract.

Blondin said the union is ready and willing to become a partner with Boeing over the next couple of years. But he also issued a warning:

"If we can't play ball together, we will be back in the same position in three years. And those three years will go by real quick." In three years, Boeing will be ready to begin delivering its new 787 jetliner, and a strike then would be crippling for that program.

The Interational Association of Machinists represents about 18,400 workers, including about 16,500 in the Puget Sound area.

"It's not all that we wanted, but it's about compromise," Jon Leach, a Machinist at Boeing's Auburn fabrication plant, said after he voted to accept the contract. "I'm not going to get everything I wanted, and the company is not going to get everything it wanted."

Even though Leach is only 48 and is not nearing retirement, he said a better pension was one of the hot-button contract issues for him.

But not everyone was in favor of the revised deal that was struck by Mulally and Blondin a week ago.

One of the most outspoken against the contract has been David Clay, an Everett toolmaker and union activist. He had been urging Machinists to reject the contract again and hold out for a better deal.

"We made them go back and bring back a better contract offer. We must do it again," Clay said in an e-mail to Machinists.

At the union hall near Boeing's plant in Everett, where the company builds its widebody 747, 767 and 777 jetliners, several Machinists who were against the contract showed up Thursday with signs urging that it be rejected.

They were asked to leave union property and stand on a nearby sidewalk with their signs, according to a Machinist who was there to vote.

"The union hall property is supposed to be neutral," explained the Machinist, who did not want his name used. He voted in favor of the contract.

"It's a good contract, a good deal for us," he said.

Boeing workers represented by the Machinists union average 49 years of age and are paid an average of $59,000 a year.

Going into the contract talks this summer, the union had said its top issue was a better pension for workers, followed closely by job security and holding the line on health care insurance payments by workers.

In 2002, the union voted strongly to reject the company's three-year contract proposal, but could not muster the two-thirds vote needed for a strike.

Then, the industry was in its worst-ever downturn after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, and Boeing was cutting thousands of commercial jobs.

Now, the industry is experiencing a strong recovery, especially in Europe and Asia. Boeing is boosting production rates as airlines, especially in Europe and Asia, want new planes again.

Industry analysts had predicted that a monthlong strike would delay the delivery of about 30 planes.

The revised offer eliminated the option of rolling the lump-sum payments into Boeing's VIP savings plan and receiving company matching contributions. It also eliminated a proposed general wage increase and the proposed annual incentive pay program. Workers will get cost-of-living wage adjustments.

Boeing, in its revised offer, also withdrew what the union said were three "takebacks" that had to go.

Those issues involved Wichita workers, new IAM hires and machine-shop operations.

Under terms of the revised offer, the 900 or so IAM workers in Wichita will receive the same economic package as those in the Pacific Northwest.

Under the company's previous final offer, they would have received fewer benefits.

Boeing also backed off from its proposal to eliminate retiree medical benefits for new hires, and it withdrew a proposal that would have allowed complex-machine operators to run more than one machine simultaneously. The union said that would have eliminated jobs.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DEAL

A pension multiplier of $70 per month per year of service.

Maintain existing health care plans under the same cost provisions of the 2002-05 contract.

An 8 percent ratification bonus (average of $5,200 per employee).

A $3,000 lump-sum bonus in both year 2 and year 3 of the contract, for a total of $6,000.

Wichita workers covered by the contract will receive the same economic package as those in the Puget Sound region.

Seniority will be part of the selection process for team leaders on the factory floor.

Retiree medical will stay the same as in the previous three-year contract.

Boeing backed off a proposal to eliminate retiree medical for new IAM hires.

Boeing withdrew its proposal for simultaneous machine operation.

Boeing restored medical layoff benefits to six months, up from three months in previous offer.

Originalartikel unter: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/242865_strikevote30.html

[N5528P]

Und im Dezember geht das Ganze von vorne los?

Da laufen nämlich die Verträge mit einer anderen Gewerkschaft aus...
Viel Spass!

Bernhard