Another labor strike has been settled at ‘the world’s largest aerospace company,’ and yet another is right on its heels.

An excellent article appeared here on The Blog from former editor Katrina Arabe, ‘ What’s Next for U.S. Unions,’ on August 29th, 2005. Two days later, a New York Times article ran with the headline, ‘Boeing Says Offer is Final.’ According to this article from BusinessWeek Online, ‘About 18,400 Boeing assembly workers in the Seattle area, Gresham, Ore., and Wichita, Kan., hit the picket lines September 2 after talks broke down over a new three-year contract, shutting down all large commercial airplane production in the U.S.’ Boeing and the International Association of Machinists confirmed on Sunday, September 25, that a labor accord had been reached.

The strike itself, lasting just less than a month—’the shortest strike in four decades,’ according to this article in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer—resulted in delayed deliveries of up to 30 jetliners in September alone. During 2005, Boeing booked more than 620 commercial airline orders, ‘the most since 1998.’

Boeing employees affiliated with the IAM—who represents about 18,400 workers—average 49 years of age and are paid an average of $59,000 per year. Are the workers ready to get back to work? Some are, some aren’t. ‘Some workers want to go back to work immediately, but others were prepared to stay out until Oct. 12, when union rules require them to report for duty. Wouldn’t one want to rush back to a nearly $60K/year job? One worker said, according to this piece in the Seattle PI, ‘”I’m staying out because you know what’s going to happen as soon as you show up—mandatory overtime and working weekends,” said a machinist on the 777 production line in Everett. He did not want to be quoted by name.’ Maybe it’s no wonder that ‘Analysts have said it could take the rest of the year for Boeing to make up the missed production, even with overtime.’

The BW Online article linked above also mentioned that, ‘The union would be willing to work with the planemaker on that proposal if management would bring the advance machining capabilities back to Seattle and revive opportunities for skilled machinists.’ As recently as June, Boeing announced $600 Million in contracts with Chinese suppliers.

Retirement- and pension-related benefits were the crux of the most recent Boeing strike. I would think such issues are moot if more and more jobs are being shipped overseas.

Boeing: Steeeeerike Two! is just around the corner, with the company facing ‘another potential contract showdown with engineers and technical workers,’ according to this article at IndyStar.com. While it seems hard to fathom with a perhaps obsessive focus on shipping U.S. jobs offshore, ‘ The same issues that prompted the machinists’ strike, pension and wage increases, are on the table in the company’s negotiations with SPEEA [Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace], whose three-year pacts expire Dec. 1 for the Puget Sound employees and Dec. 5 for those in Wichita.’

I’m not being arrogant, though I may, in fact, have lost a few brain cells overnight. How can one retire from a job that soon may not exist here in the U.S.? Shouldn’t the priority be to keep the jobs here to begin with? Or is it just me?