Your powerful and determined spirit
is what makes this Union strong. I was never so proud as when
I saw the rallies that were happening throughout Puget Sound and
Spokane during the negotiations. We will get through this, and the scars inflicted by this Boeing Company will, I believe, make us that much stronger and even more unified next time around.
We have had the roughest two years in my memory, culminating in a negotiation that was nothing more than a take it or leave it proposition. How can you respect a Company that came after its own workforce and offered no intelligent dialogue with the workers' representatives at the table? I can't.
How can you respect a Company that took full advantage of a bad economy, a terrorist attack, threatened its own workforce, and turned its back on its laid off workforce? I can't.
Well, we will take full advantage each and every step of the way during the next two years and 10 months. We will be watching the Company's every step to enforce all provisions of this contract and protect your interests using every available resource. Let's also use the time to our advantage to organize, educate, mobilize and communicate. By getting members more involved, we will be stronger in the next go round.
And we won't forget our laid off Brothers and Sisters. They are members of our family, and we will keep their return to our workplace at the top of our priority list.
Two years and ten months -- that's when we will be back at the bargaining table, Brothers and Sisters. The time can't go by fast enough for me. Take that bonus money, put it in the bank and be prepared for next time. That was unplanned money, so let's make a plan and put it away - just in case.
Hold your heads high. We took the high road throughout this ordeal. This Company will have problems as a result of their actions for years to come with a contract that the majority clearly did not want.
Brothers and Sisters, thanks again for everything you do each and every day to support your Union.