Striking unionized Boeing employees said Friday they are not concerned about losing their jobs to replacement workers.
On Thursday, Boeing announced plans to hire permanent replacements for about 3,200 workers on strike. Boeing St. Louis Vice President of Air Dominance Dan Gillian had declined to comment on hiring replacement workers during a media availability the day before the announcement.
Boeing quality specialist Freddie Stover said Friday he is not worried about the company’s plan. He said Boeing already struggled to hire skilled workers before the strike began.
“We’re not worried about that they’re going to try to hire 3,200 people to replace us,” Stover said. “Who’s going to train them?”
The striking workers are members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837. They staff manufacturing plants in Berkeley, St. Charles and Mascoutah that produce weapons and equipment for the U.S. military, including fighter jets.
“What we do is a skilled trade,” said Manson Graves, a Boeing mechanic. “For him to bring in unskilled labor, it's dangerous."
Graves said he thinks the announcement is a tactic to divide the union.
“Instead of him going in and sitting with the contract negotiation team to bargain a better contract, he’s using these tactics to target the union members and to break us,” Graves said.
The union and the company have not met to negotiate since Aug. 25. Gillian told the media on Wednesday that he is open to small changes to the contract, but that the economic framework would be staying the same.
Gillian said the current contract, which was rejected on Aug. 3, “remains strong.” He said it includes 40% average wage growth over four years, more vacation time, more sick time and a faster progression to the top of the pay scale.
Employees who are not at the top of the pay scale, which is 78% of all union workers, could get up to a 60% wage increase, Gillian said. Those at the top of the pay scale will have an increase of about 16%, which creates the 40% average that Gillian cited. One major concern from union members is that senior employees’ wages do not increase at the same rate as others.
A $5,000 bonus for ratifying the contract by Aug. 3 has since been removed.
“[Gillian’s] salary is what we make him. Without us, he makes nothing. He understands that,” Graves said. “We're not asking to be rich. We're asking to be treated fair, paid fair and done fair. That's all we're asking.”
As of Monday, workers on strike are no longer receiving health insurance from the company.
