Received from the SPEEA

Not entirely sure how I got on their mailing list, but Boeing appears to be trying to foist off a 401(k) on their employees while sticking with defined benefits for upper managers.

The Goforths	Mon, Aug 11, 2008 at 10:03 AM
Reply-To: @@@@@@@@@@@@ To: The Goforths
For Immediate Release August 11, 2008 SPEEA demands Boeing disclose funding of executive pensions SEATTLE – To ensure the pension program relied on by 21,400 technical employees at The Boeing Company is not being secretly used to fund executive retirement benefits, the union representing the employees is demanding the company immediately disclose the extent and funding source of its executive pension plans. The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), IFPTE Local 2001, formally requested the information from Boeing after a recent investigative news report by The Wall Street Journal uncovered U.S. corporations funding executive pensions by funneling funds through regular employee plans. This practice weakens employees’ pensions while allowing corporations to take advantage of huge tax benefits not normally available for executive pension plans. In the Aug. 4, page-one, report, The Wall Street Journal called the pension maneuvers by corporations a “dubious use of tax law” that “risks harming regular workers.” Earlier this year, Boeing announced the elimination of pensions for new, non-union employees. The company is seeking to eliminate pensions for union represented employees when new contracts are negotiated. “Benefits consultants advise companies to keep quiet about these schemes to avoid employee backlash,” said Ray Goforth, SPEEA executive director. “Boeing’s move to eliminate pensions for regular workers is consistent with the pattern uncovered by the Wall Street Journal. SPEEA demands to know if Boeing is sacrificing the pensions of regular workers to benefit executives.” The Boeing Company Employee Retirement Plan (BCERP) covers employees represented by SPEEA. Management told union leaders it wants to eliminate the long-term liability of the pension plan. The plan, a traditional pension, provides retired employees monthly payments until death. Instead, Boeing proposes making contributions to each employee’s 401k. The contribution is half the value of the present pension contribution. In addition to reducing corporate expense, the plan shifts all risk and maintenance of retirement onto the employee. In October, SPEEA begins negotiations with Boeing for 21,400 engineers and technical employees in Washington, Kansas, Oregon, Utah and California. The existing contracts expire Dec. 1, and in Kansas, Dec. 5. SPEEA represents 24,500 aerospace professionals at Boeing and Triumph Composite Systems, Inc., in Spokane, Wash., and at BAE Systems, Inc. in Irving, Texas. SPEEA is an affiliated local of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE). # # #

Yeah, Not a Good Look

One of the hardest groups to unionize are engineers, because too many of them subscribe to a sort of Ayn Rand view of the world.

Boeing's relationship with its engineers has been fraught enough that they have been unionized as the SPEEA since 1946, and they went on a largely successful 40 day strike in 2000.

Well, now the SPEEA is conducting whistleblower rights training.

It seems to me that the rank and file is kind of honked off:

A union representing Boeing employees held a training session last week on whistleblower protection rights, suggesting the troubled jetmaker's problems may be far from over.

The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), which represents workers at Boeing and Boeing spin-off-slash-supplier Spirit AeroSystems, held a training session for council representatives at both corporations on Friday.

"The seminar comes after two years of SPEEA unsuccessfully trying to negotiate strong anti-retaliation language with the Boeing Co. in particular," the union said on its website. It said such anti-retaliation measures are needed because SPEEA members continue to report being punished for speaking out about safety concerns.

"The whistleblower seminar will provide Council Reps the basic tools to be front-line resources to SPEEA members who are considering speaking up about an issue but don't trust their employers' internal systems," the SPEEA added.

And then there is this:

………

Brian Knowles, a lawyer who represented both deceased Boeing whistleblowers, said earlier this month that he has at least ten more Boeing employees ready to come forward. Those ten may not be alone if the need for whistleblower training is any indicator.

Yeah, this is beginning to sound like an aviation themed sequel to the Tom Cruise movie The Firm, but that is crazy talk.

Then again, considering the body count that has come from Boeing adopting the management philosophy of Jack Welch, it is way more than just 2 whistle blowers, who knows what a relentless pursuit of shareholder value might lead to?

Boeing and SPEEA Call Names

It appears that Boeing management is unhappy with the SPEEA press releases regarding Boeing's senior executive pensions and its use and of the H1b program.

Boeing complained that they issued the press release without waiting for a response, and SPEEA executive director Ray Goforth says that Boeing never responds to replies for information.

I'm inclined to believe the SPEEA in all this.

Background here.

Boeing Looks for New Ways to F%$@ Up Labor Management Relations

It looks like Boeing, the only company incompetent enough to get engineers to go out on strike and stay out,^* is playing chicken with it's unions again, though this time it's the International Association of Machinists (IAM), who are far more likely to strike than the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA).

There may not be much that Boeing is good at, but forcing its employees out on bitter strikes is one of the few.

With the 787 at least 14 months behind schedule, they can't afford a strike, but they are still pushing to screw the employees on pensions and healthcare.

Smooth move guys.

^*The SPEEA went out for 40 days in 2000, despite the fact that it was a bunch of engineers, who generally hate unions, and the union was up to that point considered a joke.

Boeing Uses Labor Agreement as Cover to Trim Outsourcing

So, we now see that Boeing will move more engineering and manufacturing in house after the debacle with its long-delayed 787:

Boeing has expected too much from major outsourcing partners and will take much detailed design work and some major production back in-house to avoid in future the troubles that have plagued its long-delayed 787 programme.

I think that some of the upper management will now say that they had to, because of the labor deal they cut with the IAM, as opposed to admitting that farming that much out to future competitors so as to reduce the initial investment, did not work, and transferred core competencies to the "partners".

I think that the employment guarantees in the contract were a relief to management, because they had to bring this stuff back in, but admitting failure in an honest way would have meant some high level firings.

Also, toward the bottom, it appears that the SPEEA is feeling its oats with Boeing too, though I don't expect a strike from them, they are engineers, who tend to be Randroid by nature.

Then again, I did not predict the last time, when they did go on strike, so YMMV.

IAM Votes to Approve Boeing Contract

I'm not surprised by the vote, and I do not expect the SPEEA to go on strike at all.

Boeing Needs to Fix Its Fix on 787

Basically, it looks as if it will be delayed even further:

While the installation of the 787 wing fix continues, Boeing engineers have returned to the drawing board to redesign part of the reinforcement, FlightBlogger has learned.

As a result, company and industry sources say the 2009 first flight target could be in jeopardy as engineers work to redesign the fix for four remaining wing stringers.

(emphasis mine)

Ben Sandilands makes a number of trenchant observations, but I think that he misses the bigger picture, which is, as I stated in my last post, that Boeing has given itself a cost cut driven lobotomy.

They cut the engineers and technicians because the finance guys thought they could, but they couldn't.

It's like when Boeing got their engineers (SPEEA) to strike a few years back, and they were surprised when the FAA said that they would not allow the suits to certify construction and deliver the aircraft.

SPEEA Approves Contract

So Boeing will not be hit by an engineers strike this year.

How the frack they got engineers to strike the last time, I'll never know.

There are so many Randroid engineers out there.

IAM Boeing Deal Appears To Have Been Reached

We have reports that Boeing and the machinists union have reached an agreement, according to a statement released by the IAM.

In related news, Boeing and its SPEEA engineering union have agreed to delay contract talks, pending the resolution of the IAM negotiations.