Boeing’s Machinist Union just voted against the company proposed contract. Since the current contract expires in 2016, there will be no strike or other negotiation. Boeing has until 2016 to figure out what to do next, primarily on the location of where to manufacture its new 777X airplanes.
Last time, in 2009, Boeing asked for a 10-year no-strike contract. The union did not agree. The company then moved its 787 line to South Carolina. Since the vote, the company has already solicited several cities — Salt Lake City, Long Beach, Calif., and Huntsville, Ala. — as potential sites to make the new airplanes.
The issue at hand is the pension plan. Boeing proposed to replace the current pension plan with 401k. With the current plan, the workers get a guaranteed income after the retirement. With 401k, they contribute to their own pension plans while they are working and get whatever the savings yield after. The vast majority of Americans have been on this “you save for your own retirement” deal for decades. GM, the other company with the old-style pension program, bankrupted on its burden.
The state of Washington gave Boeing an $8.7 billion incentive, in the form of tax breaks, to stay. Utah, California, Alabama, Texas, and South Carolina will probably all consider similar incentives. The facility to build large airplanes will be lots of investment and jobs.
Long gone are the days of proletariat and bourgeoisie on the opposite sides of the economy. Now, only the tight partnership between the knowledge workers and capital can compete against global rivals. If the labor/employer relationship is adversarial, soon there will be no place to work.
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