Posts tagged Boeing
Union investigates claims that Boeing is sending work to non-union locations
January 23, 2025 // Union officials worry that the company is using a company-wide downsizing mandate to send work away from the Seattle area, where SPEEA represents 17,000 Boeing workers. In October, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said the company would cut roughly 10% of its workforce, or 17,000 jobs, "to align with our financial reality." The U.S. planemaker recorded nearly $8 billion in losses through the first nine months of 2024. The company is expected to report more losses when it releases its year-end results on Tuesday.
Make employers pay striking workers? Too silly
January 21, 2025 // Sponsored by Sen. Marcus Riccelli, D-Spokane, and cosponsored by 12 other Democrats so far, SB 5041 is similar to last year’s House Bill 1893 and Senate Bill 5777. Those pieces of legislation had the support of nearly all Democrats but failed to pass in the Legislature’s final hours. As long as the strike is legal, union workers could receive unemployment benefits while actively on strike. (Public employee strikes are not legal, so teachers, who strike frequently, should not be able to receive unemployment insurance benefits along with the taxpayer-provided pay they already receive, even in years that they strike. I hope to see legislative talks clarify that this is so.) Sen. Steven Conway, D-Tacoma, a strong proponent of employer-financed strike benefits, told NPR-station KNKX the bill would allow workers to access the benefits starting on the second Sunday after they begin withholding their labor and would be eligible for four weeks of benefits.
Opinion: Better Capitalism Will Reduce The Need For Unions
January 17, 2025 // But now, slowly but surely, we see the pendulum starting to swing again. A new generation of corporate leaders increasingly recognize the downsides of shareholder primacy and the benefits of multi-stakeholder capitalism. Some companies are moving away from treating workers as replaceable widgets — as pure cost centers — and increasingly see them as the key to improving productivity and innovation, which are now the key drivers of long-term profit. Some notable examples in recent years include Delta Airlines, Home Depot, Costco, Best Buy, and JP Morgan Chase.
With Port Strike Averted, Dockworkers Draw New Curbs on Automation
January 12, 2025 // The pact would allow operators of automated equipment at ports in New Jersey and Virginia, where multiple machines are managed by a single dockworker at a time, to continue to use the semiautonomous cranes, according to people familiar with the matter. But the agreement says that companies that add semiautonomous equipment must hire one dockworker for each new crane added, the people said. That means that a gateway such as the Port of Virginia, which operates 116 semiautonomous cranes, will have to hire one extra dockworker for each of 36 new semiautonomous cranes it plans to add over the next few years. “That’s a pretty significant gain,” said a shipping industry official familiar with the contract talks.
After West Coast contract win, machinists’ union sets sights on Boeing’s non-union South Carolina factories
December 20, 2024 // The IAM International is looking to make inroads at Boeing's non-union South Carolina factories after a contract win on the West Coast.
How Will the U.S. Election Outcome Affect Labor Law? A Deep Dive into the NLRB’s Future
November 19, 2024 // The NLRB’s policy agenda is almost certain to shift. The new General Counsel will likely take a different approach to several key labor issues that the current NLRB has made a priority. For example, current General Counsel Abruzzo pursued aggressive enforcement actions against restrictive covenants, like non-compete and nonsolicitation agreements, following her May 2023 memo where she articulated her view that restrictive covenants like non-competes “generally violate federal labor law.” The new General Counsel will almost certainly halt enforcement of this position and several others when the new administration takes control.
Boeing to lay off over 2,200 workers in US states of Washington and Oregon
November 18, 2024 // Boeing will lay off more than 2,200 workers in the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon, according to filings posted on Monday, as part of the debt-heavy U.S. planemaker's plan to cut 17,000 jobs, or 10% of its global workforce.
Democrats make last stand for unions ahead of Trump administration
November 15, 2024 // In a final push to bolster union rights ahead of a Trump presidency, the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday banned employers nationwide from forcing workers to attend antiunion meetings. Separately, Democrats are also deploying a last-ditch effort to try to get the Senate to reconfirm NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran in the last December session, allowing the agency to maintain a Democratic majority and continue its labor-friendly rulings into the next Trump administration.
Boeing starts issuing layoff notices as planemaker trims 10% of workforce
November 13, 2024 // The strike's end on November 5 and return of Boeing's workers this week to the company's Seattle-area assembly lines now support a slow revival of MAX production. But the looming layoffs, combined with cuts to spending and travel have weighed on employee morale at the U.S. planemaker over the last few months, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Many employees on Wednesday were still waiting for a phone call or Zoom meeting with a boss to learn if they would lose their jobs, said the sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak with media.
Boeing Will Pay Furloughed Staff But Cut 10% Of Jobs After Settling Strike
November 11, 2024 // Ortberg also reiterated the companys plans to slash its workforce by about 10% of its 170,000-strong headcount across the US and other countries. The CEO first detailed these plans on October 11, when Boeing published its preliminary Q3 results. At the time, the executive said that the company had to reset its workforce levels to align with its financial reality and to focus on critical priorities.