Booing Boeing Strikers

Today the workers at Boeing, a local mainstay of the economy, are starting their strike.  Wages and "working conditions" are the issues.  the workers are walking despite the word from management that they have made the best offer possible and a strike will not change that.

I always wonder, of course, whether the company's final offer is like the ones on Deal Or No Deal -- a small pittance to keep the workers from taking home enough cash to buy their jobs.  But even more I wonder that anyone takes the workers seriously at all.  Particularly Boeing workers, who have, from my understanding one of the most valuable positions in the country -- great wages, lots of time off with pay, and on-site benefits.  On top of what they already get, the latest and final offer from Boeing represents an average increase in pay and benefits of $34,000 a year.

Clearly this is a game of chicken, with both sides standing to loose big-time if the strike drags past two weeks.  But what do the sides loose if the strike is settled on Boeing's terms?  The union members loose next to nothing but bragging rights of the "we brought Boeing to its knees" variety.

Boeing, on the other hand, stands to loose $926,500,000 (27250 affected workers times $34,000 per worker) per year that the contract is in force.

Where will Boeing make up the difference?  Higher prices for the people who buy the aircraft and ultimately just plain higher prices for everything that is any number of degrees of separation from Boeing.

The thought occurs that we are getting closer to the day when Boeing management walks off the job and tells the workers "you want it?  It's yours."

AF