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District President Tom Wroblewski's Response to Members on Times Article and Albaugh Comments
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
It's been a long time since I’ve been able to say this, but the Boeing Commercial Airplane CEO and I are in complete agreement on something:
Our members are magicians.
Actually, I found a lot to agree with in what Jim Albaugh told The Seattle Times on Tuesday:
* The world's best aerospace workers live right here in Puget Sound.
* Washington state has a great climate for aerospace, and logically should be Boeing’s first, last and only choice for any new airplane program.
* Boeing outsources far too much -- especially when it comes to the 787. The company should never again let anyone else build its wings.
*Boeing should include more engineers in the decision-making process; we strongly feel that the people actually doing the work should have that kind of input, and we would like to see you be included too.
As far as his comments about strikes and wages go, well, I found it interesting that he’d say something like that just days after he and CEO Jim McNerney both collected $3 million bonuses.
I don’t need to remind you that our members went four years -- from 2004 to 2008-- without a wage increase, or that Boeing came to us during the last contract to propose raises for entry-level people, who at the time were earning just a little more than minimum wage. Starting pay at Boeing was so bad, executives told us, that they were losing people to tire stores and coffee shops, where they could earn more.
And I don’t need to remind you why it was that we went on strike in 2005 and 2008. It wasn’t over wages; it was over company proposals to cut our health care and retirement, and over outsourcing -- especially outsourcing.
We’ve got a long way to go until our next contract talks in 2012, and who knows what will happen when we get back to the bargaining table. But if Boeing’s truly committed to dialing back two decades of outsourcing, then I’d say our chances of reaching a contract this time are that much better.
Mr. Albaugh said that his job is to make sure our members have jobs “five years from now, 10 years from now, 20 years from now.”
Frankly, I thought that was my job. But if he’s willing, I’m glad to have the help. Together, we can create new profits for Boeing, new jobs for our members and new opportunities for Washington state-- and that would be something that all of us could agree on.
Yours, in solidarity,
Tom Wroblewski
District President and
Directing Business Representative
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