Union snubs Boeing offer, but won't strike

SEATTLE, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Boeing avoided a strike Friday night when the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers rejected the company's "best and final" contract offer, but failed to get enough votes to trigger a walkout.

The approximately 19,000 members of the IMA who voted Friday in the Puget Sound area -- plus 6,000 others members in Portland, Oregon and Wichita, Kansas -- rejected the company's contract offer by 61 percent. However a 67-percent vote was needed to authorize a strike that would have shut down Boeing's airliner assembly operations.

"Our members clearly rejected this company offer, but they felt they could not strike at this time," Machinists District 751 President Mark Blondin told reporters after he announced the outcome of the vote to a stunned crowd at the union hall.

It was the second vote taken on the three-year contract offer, which union officials had solidly urged the rank-and-file to reject. The first vote on Aug. 29 was voided and rescheduled amid confusion that was caused when federal mediators called for a new round of negotiations just as the ballots were being cast.

"As you know, Boeing has used scare tactics, they've threatened our members," Blondin said. "This is a job-eliminating contract, but I'll tell you what, this union will use everything in its power to stop job loss."

The proposal, which Boeing had labeled its "best and final offer," provided for pay raises of 2 percent and 2.5 percent annually, an 8-percent bonus payable this Nov. 1 -- a $5,000 windfall for the average employee just in time for Christmas -- as well as improved retirement benefits and a wage structure that includes cost of living adjustments.

However, it also required workers to pay more for health insurance and did not have the job security provisions the IMA negotiators were seeking. Around 25 percent of the IMA's Boeing workers were laid off over the past year as the company slashed its payroll by more than 30,000.

Boeing said that the vote meant the new contract would be put into effect, replacing the previous agreement that had expired on Sept. 1.

"By choosing not to strike, the contract is ratified and will provide the framework from within, which we will work together on to build a more competitive Boeing," commercial airplanes chief Alan Mulally said in a statement.

While the IMA members grumbled to reporters about the shortcomings of the offer, the results of the voting indicated a high level of worries about striking at a time when Boeing and the aviation industry as a whole was in a fragile state due to the downturn in travel after last Sept. 11.

"I don't necessarily agree with the contract, but I don't necessarily want to be out of work either," employee Debbie Baird summed it up to Seattle television station KIRO. "So, I am kind of torn."

(Reported by Hil Anderson in Los Angeles)