by proldic » Sat Sep 03, 2005 1:42 pm
Globe & Mail Saturday, September 3, 2005 Page B6<br> <br>Boeing Co. machinists went on strike yesterday, forcing the aerospace company to halt production of commercial airplanes after the two sides failed to agree on a new labour contract.<br><br>The strike affects about 18,400 Machinists in the Seattle area, Wichita, Kan., and Gresham, Ore.<br><br>About 40 pickets were at Boeing's main gate early yesterday in Renton, Wash., the plant south of Seattle that assembles 737s, chanting at morning commuters, "What time is it? Union time!" and "Union power!"...<br><br>In Wichita earlier, 20-year Boeing employee Sandi Wiley said she wasn't walking the picket line for herself. "You do it for the next generation" -- in her case her eight-year-old daughter Leslie.<br><br>"I am worried she will have a worse standard of living than I have," Ms. Wiley said.<br><br>The machinists, who assemble Boeing's commercial airplanes and some key components, voted overwhelmingly Thursday to strike, rejecting a three-year contract proposal their leaders called "insulting."<br><br>A Boeing spokesman said the strike meant the company would immediately stop assembling commercial airplanes, dealing a blow to the jet maker just as business at its commercial airplanes division appeared to be picking up. "We don't intend to assemble airplanes during this strike," Boeing spokesman Charles Bickers said.<br><br>"If the company wants to talk, they can call me," Mark Blondin, president of Seattle-based Machinists District Lodge 751, said after announcing 86-per-cent approval for the strike authorization on Thursday. Union leaders were unwilling to provide actual vote tallies for the strike authorization. Had members fallen short of the two-thirds vote needed to strike, the contract would automatically have taken effect. BA (NYSE) fell $1.65 (U.S.) to $64.34. <br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20050903/RTICKERMAIN03/TPBusiness/International">www.theglobeandmail.com/s...ernational</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>
