Engineers, technicians strike Boeing Co.

More than 22,000 engineers and technicians at The Boeing Co. in Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, Florida and Kansas walked off the job Feb. 9 in a dispute over guaranteed wage increases, lump-sum bonuses, protection of life and health insurance policies, outsourcing and respect at work.

The white-collar workforce is represented by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) Local 2001, an affiliate of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE), AFL-CIO.

SPEEA represents 165 workers at Boeing's Gresham plant. All but 11 are on the picket line. According to the union, of the 22,600 strikers, 7,000 are represented under the union contract but have not been active dues-paying members. Actually, there are two separate SPEEA contracts - one for engineers and one for technicians, although both are negotiated simultaneously.

"In the past SPEEA has been more of an association. But management's actions have turned us into a legitimate union. This strike has brought SPEEA to a new level," said strike captain Ken Manus, as several dozen men and women walked the picket line in Gresham on a rainy Saturday.

SPEEA has operated as an independent association for 50 years with little strength. It wasn't until October 1999 that members voted to join IFPTE, an affiliate of the 13-million-member AFL-CIO.

Pickets said problems have been brewing at Boeing ever since it merged with McDonald-Douglas. At Gresham, 35 percent of the techs and engineers have been laid off as work is outsourced to non-union facilities.

Many newly-hired employees stay just long enough to complete training (one year) that qualifies them to inspect airline parts, then move on to better jobs.

Then, during contract negotiations, the company tried to "jam down our throats" reductions in medical benefits and life insurance - similar to what it did to non-represented workers, Bruce Strange, a 26-year employee, told delegates of the Northwest Oregon Labor Council.

"It seems Boeing has lost all respect for its techs and engineers," Strange said.

At the Gresham picket line, strike captain Ed Courier, who has worked for Boeing since 1978, said support for the strike has been amazing.

"We can't say enough good things about the support from the Machinists and others," he said.

Under its existing contract, members of the Machinists Union, the largest union at Boeing, must report to work (just as SPEEA contracts required during past Machinists strikes). But SPEEA pickets told the Northwest Labor Press Machinists are walking picket lines during breaks, supplying food and making sure they don't do any SPEEA work inside the plant.

"We support SPEEA's efforts to get a fair and equitable agreement,"said Dave Plant, directing business representative of Machinists District Lodge 24 in Portland.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported that the Teamsters Union, which has members from United Parcel Service and Airborne Freight, and the United Transportation Union, which represents workers on the rail lines that serve Boeing, said their members wouldn't cross picket lines.

On Feb. 9 an estimated 9,000 SPEEA members and allies from the AFL-CIO paraded into Renton, Wash., Memorial Stadium in a show of solidarity.

Labor experts says it is the largest strike of white-collar workers in U.S. history.