Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17A (F-267) CB-8008 rests on the Boeing flight ramp at Long Beach Airport (LGB/KLGB) on April 16, 2014.
(Photo by Michael Carter)
A pivotal contract vote affecting a thousand Boeing Co. C-17 employees has been postponed indefinitely, a union official said Thursday morning.
Members of the United Aerospace Workers Local 148, which includes mechanics and others assigned to the soon-to-be-shuttered airplane program, were supposed to vote on a proposed contract Thursday, but their union decided to delay the vote after the union’s lawyers reviewed the proposed contract and saw “potential issues that could have legal ramifications” against current and future retirees, said Local 148 President Stanley G. Klemchuk.
“We cannot recommend a contract that could hurt members,” he said.
The union’s lawyers will also look into allegations that the company management used scare tactics. One worker said a manager made statements threatening to pull airplanes from the schedule if members voted no on the contract.
“You can’t have managers on the floor making comments like that,” Klemchuk said. “That’s negotiating on the floor instead of at the table.”
The proposed contract has pitted members against each other.
The current contract allows for full pension and medical benefits for employees who are at least 55 and have 30 years with the company. The proposal, if approved, would give 300 workers who have more than 29 years, but less than 30 years with the company, and are 55 years old or older, a chance to retire with their full medical benefits and pension.
However, there are 80 members whose pensions would be penalized if they left or were laid off. The current contract allows employees between ages 49 and 55 who are laid off to receive their pension from Boeing at 55 without penalty. That is not part of the proposed contract, so if the proposal is approved, those laid off in that age range could see their pension cut by as much as 42 percent, Klemchuk said.
More than a week ago, Boeing announced that it would hasten the closure of the C-17 program by three months to mid-2015.
Despite efforts to expand its customer base beyond the U.S., Boeing lacked the sufficient orders needed to keep the assembly plant open and decided in September to close the program that employed roughly 2,200 people in Long Beach and thousands more nationally who supply parts and services for the military airlifter.
Since its maiden voyage on Sept. 15, 1991, the four-engine planes have been used on various peacekeeping and disaster relief missions by the U.S. and its foreign partners.
Boeing officials, who declined to go into detail about the contract, issued the following statement Tuesday: “Boeing and UAW 148 concluded talks about the effects of the C-17 Globemaster III closure on the collective bargaining agreement — talks known as effects bargaining. During effects bargaining, the parties meet and bargain in good faith. The company presented the union with a fair closure agreement that recognizes the valuable contributions by C-17 employees.”
The proposed contract offers 13 weeks of severance pay, a bump in pension and a $4,000 signing bonus, which some say isn’t comparable to what was given to employees in St. Louis or Tulsa, where Boeing plants were also shuttered. Many of those employees received 26 weeks of severance pay and a $10,000 signing bonus.
(Karen Robes Meeks - Long Beach Press Telegram)
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