I have had several people ask me during the past few days how, or if, the strike by the International Association of Machinists (IAM) is affecting my job at Boeing. As an engineer at Boeing I am represented by a separate union called the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA). There is a specific clause in SPEEA's contract that we have to keep working during a strike by IAM. They have a similar clause in their contract requiring them to work if we strike. So, in the short run my job is not affected too much by the strike. I still go to work everyday and I still get a paycheck. The only difference is that the factory is a lot quieter and there a lot of people with picket signs just off of company property.
So far all of the people on strike have been really nice. They wave at us, tell us to have a nice day and ask us to honk our horns when we drive by. They are out there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so they might as well try to enjoy it. I think they have to do a 4 hour "strike duty shift" every week or so.
Obviously with several thousand employees on strike things are moving a little slower for us, but as a support group it actually gives us some time to catch up on projects. It would obviously be better if we were struggling to keep up and the company was busy building airplanes, but we have to look for the silver lining right?
For those of you who want more information on the strike:
News Article of an interview with a Union Leader
Boeing's Website about the Labor Negotiations
5 comments:
I was interested to hear about the Boeing strike.
Now tell us how whoosh whoosh is doing. Maybe you can share the gender on here????? I think Lindy better get back to it with the blogging thing!
I think she means Swoosh, forgive her. Talk to Phil Knight about sponsoring the birth yet?
Kelly, we're all depending on you. Maybe now that you have a little more time at work you could help with the blog a bit more. Take some pics of the little baby bump so we can see how Swoosh/Woosh is doing.
Wouldn't it be fun to go on strike for 10 minutes! Okay maybe not, but at least I am leaving a comment. Can you feel the baby yet? I am so excited to see you guys in a couple of week.s
I think there are a lot of people here who think it's fun to go on strike. And it wouldn't be that bad - you only have to work 4 hours every couple of weeks, that sounds nice. But not getting paid for several weeks would be really tough. As for the baby, nothing yet. We've got another appointment coming up on Monday so we should have all the updates for when we come to Phoenix in a week.
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