-Caveat Lector- ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 27 Aug 1999 18:51:04 -0500 Friday August 27 3:45 AM ET Boeing Workers Brace For Strike By Martin Wolk EVERETT, Wash. (Reuters) - With tense contract talks entering their final hours, Boeing Co. workers said Thursday they were bracing for a possible strike even as they gushed with pride over the aerospace giant's latest wide-body jet model. As a gleaming 767-400 was towed out of Boeing's huge factory north of Seattle in a carefully choreographed ceremony, a group of several hundred unionized Machinists chanted slogans and turned their back in protest against what they consider a lack of respect from management in talks aimed at reaching a new contract before the current four-year deal expires at midnight Wednesday. ``I think we're going to go on strike,'' said Todd Glenn, a mechanic at the Everett plant. ``I hope we do -- I'm tired of working 10 hours a day and seven days a week.'' The Machinists' protest was nearly drowned out by the strains of a 56-piece marching band, and after the ceremonial rollout many of the workers drifted back to take a close look at the jet, a new version of the twin-engine, twin-aisle 767 with increased passenger capacity. Charles Grieser, a lead quality assurance inspector, said proudly that federal aviation officials had found only one workmanship defect in 200 factory inspections of the 201-foot-long jet's fuselage. ``They crawled all over there, poking around with flashlights,'' he said. ``One mistorqued bolt -- I should have saved it.'' But he said he was ready to strike unless Boeing backs up its demands for more flexible work schedules with an offer of premium pay. ``We're capitalists -- we're not socialists,'' he said. Boeing commercial airplane group President Alan Mulally said he was ``cautiously optimistic'' the two sides would reach agreement without a strike. ``We're making really good progress,'' he told reporters at the ceremony. ``Our focus now is getting an agreement that we all feel good about, and then we can move forward.'' He also said the midsized 767 family, which seats from about 200 to 375 passengers depending on the exact model, had a 70 percent share in its size category, making it a potent weapon in the company's battle against European rival Airbus Industrie. Mulally declined to discuss any strike contingency plans, but he acknowledged that a work stoppage by the 48,000 Machinists, nearly a quarter of the company's work force, would bring airplane production to a halt, as it did in 1995 when the union struck for 69 days. Bill Johnson, president of the union's biggest local and one of its main negotiators, said he remained pessimistic about the prospects for an agreement by Friday, when the union has asked for the company's ``best and final'' offer. A Boeing spokesman said the company was on track to present its final offer Friday morning, giving union members several days to study it before an expected vote Wednesday. Unionized workers, who described the prevailing mood in the factory as one of anger, said few people had been making major purchases as they prepare for the possibility of living on $100-a-week strike pay. ``For most people, signing a new contract is when you start saving for the next one,'' said one 20-year Boeing veteran, who declined to give his name. ``It's like if you live in an earthquake zone. You prepare yourself for an earthquake.'' ___________________________________________________________________ Get the Internet just the way you want it. Free software, free e-mail, and free Internet access for a month! Try Juno Web: http://dl.www.juno.com/dynoget/tagj. -- DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
