Boeing workers' strike

The world's largest manufacturer of passenger jets has been grounded. Boeing's 32,000 production workers in three US states downed tools on October 6 after members of the International Association of Machinists voted to reject a contract that required workers to pay for health insurance premiums. The changes in health care coverage will cost workers an average $1000 a year. The company is also attempting to cut health entitlements to retired employees and refuses to raise pensions. Boeing refuses to guarantee job security. A strike at the giant Boeing corporation is not an insignificant event: production at Boeing accounts for almost 5% of US GNP. Boeing has made US$6.6 billion in profits since 1990, and recently announced massive stock bonuses for its senior management. The company's order books are near-full. The company claims it cannot afford to pay high wages and is threatening to open plants in low-wage countries. In the Puget Sound region of Washington State alone, Boeing's work force has been pared from 39,000 in 1990 to 23,000 through lay-offs, restructuring and shifting work to non-union contractors in Mexico, Poland, China and south of the US.