Vote to come in the next 3 to 5 days.

Here's some of the news so far:

From the Guardian:

Both sides had shown recent signs of wanting an end to the strike. Wall Street analysts estimated Boeing was losing $100 million in revenue for every day its plants were closed, while striking workers lost their usual healthcare benefits after one month on strike and were receiving a meager $150 per week strike pay from the union.

The union said that details of the accord would be withheld until they can be compiled and distributed to IAM members in all Boeing locations. (Reporting by Ilaina Jonas, Bill Rigby and Laura Myers; Editing by Bernard Orr and Mathew Veedon)

AP quoted IAM spokesman Frank Larkin:

Francis "Frank" Larkin, a spokesman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Washington, D.C., told The Associated Press the deal was reached shortly before 9 p.m. EDT Monday, in the fifth day of talks at Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service headquarters in Washington and the 52nd day of the walkout.

And these are my favorite quotes from the AP piece, mostly because AP isn't being anti-union or anti-worker (for once), I mean they actually include a quote from a statement from Mark Blondin, IAM negotiator! For the life of me, I can't even imagine why AP would include it, they aren't exactly worker friendly, but whatever, I still like seeing it.

According to a statement issued by the union, the settlement "will provide job security for its members and limit the amount of work outside vendors can perform in the workplace."

IAM represents about 25,000 workers in and around Seattle, 1,500 in Gresham, Ore., and 750 in Wichita, Kan. Participants in the talks included IAM President Tom Buffenbarger and General Vice President Rich Michalski.

"I think we've addressed all the major concerns that our members have had," Buffenbarger said by telephone.

The union withheld additional details of the agreement pending distribution to the membership, but its statement said the pact was unanimously endorsed by IAM negotiators and will be submitted for a ratification vote in three to five days. A simple majority is required for approval.

"This tentative agreement is the result of hard work and great sacrifice by many people," the union's aerospace coordinator and chief negotiator, Mark Blondin, said in the statement, "but no one deserves more credit than the workers at Boeing, who conducted themselves with dignity and determination throughout this ordeal.

"On behalf of the entire negotiating committee, I want to say it has been our honor to serve as their representatives."

Oh, never mind, I know why AP put that in, because it's actually on the IAM site:

The tentative agreement has the unanimous endorsement of the IAM negotiating committee and will be presented to members for a ratification vote, which will take place in 3-5 days. A simple majority is required to ratify the tentative agreement.

“This tentative agreement is the result of hard work and great sacrifice by many people,” said IAM Aerospace Coordinator Mark Blondin. “But no one deserves more credit than the workers at Boeing, who conducted themselves with dignity and determination throughout this ordeal. On behalf of the entire negotiating committee, I want to say it has been our honor to serve as their representatives.”

AP didn't exactly have to work for the story, did they?

And one last piece, from United Press International:

Boeing issued a statement saying the deal provides annual pay raises and improved pension benefits, while allowing the company to retain "the flexibility necessary to manage its business, while making changes to the contract language to address the union's issues on job security, pay and benefits."

The company said it had dropped its insistence on healthcare changes that would have had employees pay more for their coverage.

Striking union machinists at the Boeing assembly plant in Everett, Wash., said the strike was about protecting their jobs from outsourcing, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday.

In addition to the IAM and Boeing tentative agreement, the UPI piece further noted a little bit about SPEEA:

Boeing's white-collar union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, agreed Monday to postpone the opening session of its contract talks, The Seattle Times said. The talks, scheduled to begin Tuesday, will begin Wednesday instead.

Hope SPEEA has successful negotiations and I eagerly await the details from IAM on the contract specifics, but it was nice to see that Boeing put out just a few of the specifics themselves in terms of health care costs and outsourcing.

For up to the minute news, check out the IAM local 751 site. They've also posted a short contract synopsis and here's just a little teaser on the job security stuff:

Letter of Understanding #2 – Updated Letter of Understanding to protect nearly 2,200 facilities/maintenance employees currently on the payroll for life of the Agreement.

Revisions to Article 21.7 - Expanded the scope of our subcontracting review. Secured the ability to compete for work that moves from one Boeing facility to another Boeing facility.

Improved Letter of Understanding #37 with the following protections.
• Forklift Drivers, MPRF’s, Factory Consumables Handlers, Environmental Control Workers and Shipping/Distribution will not be laid off or removed from their job classification and grade as a result of Materials Delivery and Inventory Process. This revision expanded protection to 2,920 jobs for the life of the Agreement.
• Except for 787 final assembly, vendors are limited to delivering products to designated areas only. From there, bargaining unit employees will track use, disbursement, acquisition, and/or inventory of parts, materials, tools, kits and other goods or products.
• Jointly work with the Company to improve material delivery process and ensure our members grow with the new technology and innovations.
• Parties will explore options for retraining or reassigning bargaining unit employees to equal level jobs when employees are impacted by process and technology changes.

Read More...

Boeing seems determined to sink itself:

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Main table negotiations for new, three-year, contracts covering 20,300 engineers and technical workers at The Boeing Company start Tuesday (Oct. 28), in SeaTac.

Negotiations between the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), IFPTE Local 2001, and Boeing start after eight months of disappointing preliminary talks. The first meaningful discussion only recently took place, according to SPEEA Executive Director Ray Goforth. Union leaders started advising members in May to save money for a possible strike.

“Early indications are that these will be very difficult negotiations,” Goforth said. “Engineers and technical workers are the life’s blood of Boeing, but the current regime at corporate headquarters treats them as mere vendors selling a service to Chicago. This disrespect has to end.”

Talks involve two contracts. The first covers 13,390 engineers and a second contract for 6,889 technical workers. While the majority of workers work in the Puget Sound region, the contracts cover some employees in Oregon, Utah and California. Both contracts expire Dec. 1.

Negotiations for 700 engineers at Boeing Wichita start Nov. 13. The Wichita contract expires Dec. 5.

Boeing remains determined to change SPEEA contracts in several areas. Among the changes are fragmenting the union into small pieces, eliminating the defined benefit pension for new employees, shifting healthcare costs onto employees and accelerating the outsourcing of engineering and design work to suppliers, contractors and overseas companies.

Based on Boeing’s own data, many SPEEA-represented employees need significant pay increases to reach average wages in the aerospace industry. Union officials said for Boeing to remain a market-leading company, it must pay industry leading wages. Other contract improvements proposed by SPEEA include a meaningful cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA), increasing vacation to industry standards, bereavement pay when a close relative dies and for Boeing to follow Airbus North America and honor Martin Luther King Day as a paid holiday.

“Everybody wins if we get a good contract,” said Dave Patzwald, chair of the Professional Negotiating Team. “We’re hopeful. We’ll know soon.”

Boeing remains an island of success in the economy with $7.5 billion in cash reserves. On Wednesday (Oct. 22), the commercial airplanes division announced third quarter profits of $694 million. Profits on the defense side were $845 million, up 4% from the same quarter last year. Total order backlog is $349 billion.

I've said this before and I'm gonna say it again, INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTS WEAKEN THE BARGAINING POSITION OF WORKERS. Boeing is interested in "fragmenting the union into small pieces" because doing so means that SPEEA is in line with the crap the UAW has carved out over the past few years. How'd that work for GM, Chrysler, Ford and the UAW in the end? Not well for any of them.

Need more on what's going on for IAM right now, head over to the IAM site for more. They are keeping the site updated at least daily.

Strike Update - October 26, 2008

Contract talks continued late into the evening Sunday and will resume first thing Monday morning. No details will be released until this latest round of contract talks have concluded.

Read More...

At least that's what the Detroit Free Press is reporting, some progress:

Enough progress has been made for the UAW to call off a rally slated for today in Hart Plaza, which was viewed as an encouraging sign that the strike by 3,650 workers at four American Axle plants would end soon.

"We are ready to go back to work," said Anthony Jones, a 51-year-old single father and an American Axle production worker for 13 years. "But at least we want it to be fair."

Fair would be nice, I'll keep my fingers crossed, but until then, I'm with Lisa

Lisa Akra of Plymouth Township, who left a job at Rock Financial to become a machinist at American Axle, said she feels frustrated hearing word that a deal could be reached soon and then hearing that it might take more time.

"It's desperate mode now for most people," she said, noting that the strike is in its eighth week. Strikers get $200 a week from a UAW fund. "We didn't expect to be out this long."

Too many are in desperate mode. Some onf Dick, bargain in good faith for once!!

Read More...

What Are you Doing on May 1st?

I’m planning to support the International Longshore and Warehouse Union by not working the day shift on May 1st.

Why?

To protest the Iraq War
Take a look at their commitment to this One Day –Strike- Meeting:

ILWU International President Robert McEllrath has written letters to President John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO and President Andy Stern of the Change-to-Win Coalition, and to the presidents of the International Transport Workers Federation and the International Dockworkers Council to inform them of the ILWU's plans for May 1.

More from the ILWU's call to action:

Longshore Caucus calls for Iraq war protest at ports on May 1

Nearly one hundred Longshore Caucus delegates voted on February 8 to support a resolution calling for an eight-hour "stop-work" meeting during the day-shift on Thursday, May 1 at ports in CA, OR and WA to protest the war by calling for the immediate, safe return of U.S. troops from Iraq.

“The Caucus has spoken on this important issue and I’ve notified the employers about our plans for 'stop work' meetings on May 1,” said ILWU International President Bob McEllrath.

Caucus delegates, including several military veterans, spoke passionately about the importance of supporting the troops by bringing them home safely and ending the War in Iraq. Concerns were also raised about the growing cost of the war that has threatened funding for domestic needs, including education and healthcare. Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard economist Linda J. Bilmes recently estimated that the true cost of the War in Iraq to American taxpayers will exceed 3 trillion dollars--a figure they describe as "conservative."

The union’s International Executive Board recently endorsed Barack Obama, citing his opposition to the War in Iraq as one of the key factors in the union's decision-making process.

The ILWU was one (if not the first) union to integrate, having done so in 1936. Both black and white gangs (work crews) worked alongside each other on the docks and held together during the strike of 1936. Integrating the union meant that when they had to strike, owners and bosses couldn’t race bate the workers, a management practice still in use today (check out Smithfield justice for more on this).

My point here about the ILWU is that it is a very progressive union. They do things democratically; including this action on the Iraq war, in fact, they even say as much:

Caucus delegates are democratically elected representatives from every longshore local who set policy for the Longshore Division.

And in support of the actions taken by the caucus,

On May 1st, I will buy no products, travel no where, pay for no services, nor will I work. For 8 hours on May 1st, I’ll remember the more than 4,000 American soldiers who have fallen, the countless thousands who have come back without legs, arms, eyes or the ability to walk. I will remember those now in mental hospitals and all those now living on the streets, still at war in their heads. I will remember all the innocent lives lost in Iraq, children, elderly, mothers, fathers, and I will keep in mind that we can change it all this November.

So, I’m asking again, do you know what you’re doing on May 1st?

Read More...