And the union has asked the NLRB to drop its lawsuit against Boeing.
Under the terms of the deal, union workers get job security from the contracts to build Boeing’s new 737 MAX airplane, 700 of which have already been ordered, along with the 3,000 original 737s currently on backorder.
Boeing gets the go-ahead to start production of it’s 787 Dreamliner at it’s newly-built South Carolina facility without the threat of the NLRB forcing them to close because of unfair labor practices.
“We’eve had problems in the past and this is a new era, a new paradigm of how we will be working together going forward,” said Boeing’s labor spokesman Tim Healy. “An agreement like this doesn’t change overnight what’s taken years to develop, but it’s an extremely positive first step.”
The NLRB dispute revolves around Boeing’s decision to build some of the 787 Dreamliners, which are currently being assembled in Washington where workers are unionized, at a new facility in South Carolina, a right to work state. The South Carolina plant would add 1,000 new jobs in a state where unemployment rate currently sits at 10.5 percent, 1.5 percentage points above the national average.
It sounds like a good deal, but the NLRB lawsuit never should have happened. Companies considering expanding or opening operations in right to work states have been put on notice that they’re likely to face expensive, possibly debilitating lawsuits from the unions and labor’s allies on the board. Well, ally, since SEIU’s Craig Becker will leave the board at the end of the year. It’ll be interesting to see who the president sends up to replace him.
Bryan,
Agreed that the NLRB had no business getting involved in this to begin with. Still, the fact that the IAM is dropping the suit to secure the 737MAX in factories that are already 80-90% tooled for it shows that the suit had no teeth to begin with and everyone knew it. The entire purpose of the suit was to force all 787 FAL work back to WA and away from any right-to-work states that would weaken the IAM’s iron grip on the workforce. The union would not give up on such a precedent if there was a decent chance of prevailing as it would mean not just 787 production but potentially any new Boeing programs to come along. This should have been the hill to die on!
As I mentioned before by securing 737MAX production in Renton and a 3-year contract to start next year the IAM basically gets what it was probably going to get anyways, with a few additional “sweeteners” thrown in to cushion the blow of losing the NLRB action: possible 767 tanker work, remaining legacy military contracts, etc. So Boeing really sees no lasting significant impacts from the whole NLRB action, the IAM has suddenly become more amenable to negotiation, the unionized workers get a lock on coming work and increased job security and the Administration comes away looking very foolish.
It’s win-win-win all around!
“Companies considering expanding or opening operations in right to work states have been put on notice that they’re likely to face expensive, possibly debilitating lawsuits from the unions and labor’s allies on the board.”
Right on target. These same companies have also been put on notice that to resolve/prevent such suits, they must share vital decision-making authority with the union … or else.
This is not a win-win-win all around. It’s a short-term win at the price of long-term, ongoing losses for the economy, right-to-work proponents and business autonomy.
Oops. Anonymous is me.