Friday, May 28, 2004
A big FO to this BAFO, too...
You can find the detailed result over on the speea.org website, but the short version is that (1) the membership rejected Boeing’s second Best And Final Offer by only slightly less than we did their first BAFO and (2) by a margin of just about 3-to-1, the members authorized our Negotiation Team to call a strike when we think it an appropriate time.
Now, what I was really hoping for on the ratification vote was an increase in rejection percentage. I mean, since the last BAFO, Boeing’s announced that they’re sharing our profits and good fortune with the non-represented employees ("EIP could pay 15 days! How would you spend it?!") and stockholders (buy back a billion worth of stock, pumping the price, and giving a 17% raise in dividends) and even other unions (recent contract with the ex-MacDAC IAM folks in St Louis, with big raises, smaller med premiums, and an EIP-like productivity plan). Certainly, these facts would convince some more of my co-workers that Boeing could afford to not cut our wage and benefit packages as much as they seem to desire.
And it probably did. Unfortunately, those numbers were most likely offset by the folks who’ve changed their minds and decided, rightly or wrongly, that they need a contract, and NOW, dammit! So, as I said, the percentage of members rejecting this offer was pretty much that of the last. And not my fondest desired outcome.
The "strike authorization" vote, however, exceeded my greatest expectation. While there will be some mention of the five-percent difference between the 70% rejection - 75% strike vote, I wonder if the media will make note of the fact that the really significant number is, in fact, 20%: those accepting the contract who still voted to authorize support of a strike to improve the contract offer.
-- Bill, who’d estimate the percentages among the "non-paying unit member" population ain’t all that much different...
Now, what I was really hoping for on the ratification vote was an increase in rejection percentage. I mean, since the last BAFO, Boeing’s announced that they’re sharing our profits and good fortune with the non-represented employees ("EIP could pay 15 days! How would you spend it?!") and stockholders (buy back a billion worth of stock, pumping the price, and giving a 17% raise in dividends) and even other unions (recent contract with the ex-MacDAC IAM folks in St Louis, with big raises, smaller med premiums, and an EIP-like productivity plan). Certainly, these facts would convince some more of my co-workers that Boeing could afford to not cut our wage and benefit packages as much as they seem to desire.
And it probably did. Unfortunately, those numbers were most likely offset by the folks who’ve changed their minds and decided, rightly or wrongly, that they need a contract, and NOW, dammit! So, as I said, the percentage of members rejecting this offer was pretty much that of the last. And not my fondest desired outcome.
The "strike authorization" vote, however, exceeded my greatest expectation. While there will be some mention of the five-percent difference between the 70% rejection - 75% strike vote, I wonder if the media will make note of the fact that the really significant number is, in fact, 20%: those accepting the contract who still voted to authorize support of a strike to improve the contract offer.
-- Bill, who’d estimate the percentages among the "non-paying unit member" population ain’t all that much different...
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