If you haven’t heard it already, the spoiled children (aka the District 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Union employees) who make parts for Boeing Aircraft Manufacturing have rejected the last contract offer given by the Boeing Company and began their strike last Friday at midnight. I meant to blog on it Friday but got waylaid by other things.
Let me just say: This is going to be good fun to watch.
They union is holding out for heaven and earth to be moved for them and called Boeing’s offer of only making the sun rise and set “An Insult�. The union told their members to reject it and they did exactly that, surpassing the necessary 75% to strike with an 86% strike vote.
This could well be the death of the IAMAW. They don’t really have much to bargain with other than the fact that 86% of their members voted to strike last week. Their membership is down in recent years and the Boeing Company has gotten stronger, beating Airbus in the number of orders and quantity of planes ordered.
What the union geeks fail to recognize is that Boeing was smart enough to write strike clauses in their sales contracts so that the company won’t get punished financially if they deliver the planes late. That and Reuters is reporting that analysts don’t see a problem of Boeing losing any ground to airbus if the strike last for the rest of the year.
Barely Governeor Gregoire is ‘concerned’ what the effect of the strike will have on the company. She is really only worried about the sales tax income from Boeing employees spending like there is no tomorrow, as is their habit, especially around Christmas time. If she really cared, she’d get her cronies in the state house to write some new legislature making Washington a Right to Work state. But she doesn’t, so she won’t.
Speaking of the holidays, while Boeing may lose money from incoming new orders, they are going to save millions if they can wait it out until the end of the year so that they don’t have to dish out the huge Christmas bonuses that these spoiled children get every year.
Boeing just has to sit back and wait for these guy’s strike money and personal savings to run out and they can get them all back for the cost of the contract that just expired.
It will be a game of attrition and there is no way Boeing can lose under those rules. First they bankrupt the union, then the employees start coming back one by one for their old contract.
At least, that is my hope for this situation. If Boeing capitulates, they’re consigning themselves to the noose of the union for another 50 years. I am sick and tired of these spoiled children demanding things they haven’t earned every few years. Productivity has been stagnant for a decade and employee skills haven’t gone up.
Around these parts, we call Boeing “The Lazy-B Ranch�, and not without reason. This is the same union that has stood up for employees caught sleeping in the rafters while on the clock and for thieves.
Goodbye union, hello newly freed employees.
Does this make it sound as if I don’t like unions?
Good, because I don’t. Working with Teamsters can make a fella like that.
Old joke amongst my friends who are Seattle-area natives– how can you tell that someone’s dad works at Boeing? They have two or three new cars, the kids have the coolest new sneakers and heaps of toys, and all the new video game systems, but they live in a trailer with a blue tarp over the roof.
Payment plans, baby, payment plans.
With the strike, I’m hitting the WAC show and picking up some killer deals. Another way to spot a Boeing worker– in the third week of the strike, he runs down to Ben’s Loans and puts up awesome firearms that you haven’t seen for years and years. Visit, then wait until late in the month or the beginning of October, hit up Ben’s Loans again, and see the difference in the stock. I guarantee it. Hit the WAC show in December, before Christmas, and you will have some unbelievable bargains thrust into your lap.
I’ve known many Boeing employees that weren’t fools, but the people who are wrapped up with the union ARE fools. Why? Like you said, they ask the company to move heaven and earth, regardless of the financial status of the company. They demand less work, more money, more benefits, and guarantees that they will be employed for life. I lived next to a Boeing guy that was an “electrician”– he dragged wiring from one end of aircraft hulls to the other. He made something like $35 an hour, but had no savings and never took advantage of the ample opportunities to better himself that Boeing and the union offered. In mid 2000 he got laid off and sat around for THREE YEARS waiting for money and jobs to start magically rolling in. The sad thing was that he had two kids and a wife. His wife began screwing around behind his back and they got divorced.
Oh yeah, Kyle, I know all about those overextended mofos selling their shit to eat. It always starts with the jetskis and the snowmobiles, sold for half the showroom floor price. And they’re always brand new or less than a year old. Then the boats and RVs go up for sale, again, less than a year or two old and for half price. Next come the guns.
Counting from last Friday, I’m looking at Thanksgiving to be a good time to hit Ben’s Loans just to hang out with a grand in my pocket and intercept a deal or two.
I swear, the non-Boeing employee part of the Seattle area gets a quarter of their stuff from striking/laid off Boeing workers. And you’re right, there are a goodly number of smart Boeing workers who know how to save their money for a rainy day and buy things whole out for cash, but they are in the minority.
It’s already started. I just bought a ’97 S10 blazer with all the bells and whistles and 88k. on it for about 1/2 of it’s blue book price. Boeing machinist downsizing to eliminate payments. His loan balance was 3/4 of what I paid him.
I’m now surfing Craigslist three or four times a day for toys and boats. I’m looking for nice salmon boats about 20′ long with a 4cycle 95 or 100 horse Honda motor on a Galv. trailer. I expect to find some for around 1/3-1/4 of actual value due to the strike. Boeing strikes always make me a bundle of money. I’ll be selling this stuff next Spring for a tidy profit. Yup, I’m an eeeeeeevil Capitalist.
Aww man, you’re making me feel lazy here , Nord.
I completely forgot about Craigs. If you find more than one of those boats, let me know. I’ll try to help your capitalism addiction.
Nordictnug, check out that S10 carefully. If it shows the slightest leak of auto tranny fluid coming from the bell housing area, dump it quick. All the Chevy 4X4’s (V-6’s) from that period had a problem with misalignment of engine and tranny. Most of them start to leak around 60K, but might not totally let go until 100K. Yours is right in the middle.
If there’s red, you’d better dread.
We’re all so horrible.
I have to second Rivrdog’s comments. I had an S-10 with the 4.3l V-6, which is the least problematic, and the tranny had major problems. That’s the tip that will clue you in on what to look for.
Nordictnug, you’re my hero.