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Strike at Boeing?

Machinists at Boeing approved a strike but did not initiate it yet.  This is the last thing that Boeing needs as they try to get the Dreamliner 787 completed. 

Strikes are a negative manifestation of human emotion as are wars between nations.  A strike might be viewed as a sort of war between workers and management. This is the second strike called at Boeing  just since 9/11. Workers want the defined benefit plan with every imaginable perk attached. Boeing like other big employers is trying to move to defined contribution plans. These are topics we study in Intermed II Accounting  as well as in Dr. Sosa Fey's labor relations courses. 

From  a socionomic standpoint, this is another clue that negative human emotion is taking center stage.  Clearly the longer term view is away from such confining agreements but unions have not been forward looking the last few decades which has brought them less and less membership. A similar effort at GM resulted in a 'strike' lasting less than a week. Here the Boeing employees have the competition with Airbus to hold up as a bargaining chip.  

Part of your studies should be an understanding of how the 

National Labor Relations Board has to approve a union certification election

National Mediation and Reconciliation Board attempts to bring the parties to the table and avoid a strike

Will they strike, costing Boeing and themselves potential earnings from which such benefits would be paid? We will be watching. 

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2 responses to “Strike at Boeing?”

  1. Yovela Rico Avatar
    Yovela Rico

    I think it a little harsh to compare Strikes to Wars. No one dies in direct relation to a strike. At least it is not recorded that way. It’s usually called an “Accident”. That aside, I do agree that some Labor unions cause unneccesary strain on the employer that at some points leads to bankruptcy. I don’t know the details of the requests these workers are making. I do agree with a strike if employees are being treated unfairly by employers and if their work is not being compensated properly but, the question remains, who decides proper compensation? I understand that some benefit request are outrageous and some labor unions don’t see the expense it cost the companies. How else are you supposed to get reform though without, pushing for it?

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  2. Dennis Elam Avatar
    Dennis Elam

    Yovela
    At my last school I advocated a business history class, Your answer is good support for why we should have such a course. The history of labor management is pretty harshly tilted toward management, going back to the salve days of the Egyptian pyramids. There are truly horrible reports of abuse in early English factories and mines in the 1700s and early 1800s. charles dickens wrote extensively about this and Fredrick Follett detailed this in an historical fiction novel about imported slavery among Anglos, yes you read that right, in the early days of this country. Anyway, I will make this alonger separate post.

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