Sunday, September 04, 2005

''More than 18,000 Boeing Machinists Strike Over New Contract''

"SEATTLE -- Machinists at Boeing Co. walked out on strike Friday, forcing the aerospace company to halt production of commercial airplanes after the two sides could not agree on a new labor contract. The strike affects about 18,400 Machinists in the Seattle area, Wichita, Kan., and Gresham, Ore.

In Wichita, 20-year Boeing employee Sandi Wiley said she wasn't walking the picket line for herself but for her 8-year-old daughter, Leslie.
"You do it for the next generation," Wiley said. "I am worried she will have a worse standard of living than I have." The Machinists, who assemble Boeing's commercial airplanes and some key components, voted overwhelmingly Thursday to strike, rejecting a three-year contract proposal their leaders called "insulting." Boeing spokesman Charles Bickers said the strike meant the company would immediately stop assembling commercial airplanes, dealing a blow to the jet maker just as business at its commercial airplanes division appeared to be picking up.

"If the company wants to talk, they can call me," Mark Blondin, president of Seattle-based Machinists District Lodge 751, said after announcing 86 percent approval for the strike authorization. Union leaders were unwilling to provide actual vote tallies for the strike authorization and a separate vote on the contract offer."-from the AP story.

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