Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Boeing the worst performer
Speaker 1: in the Dow Industrials. Moody says, it's putting the playmaker
Speaker 1: on review for a possible downgrade to junk status. And
Speaker 1: of course this is as thirty three thousand workers in
Speaker 1: the Seattle area rejected the latest labor deal and voted
Speaker 1: to strike. They walked off the job this morning.
Speaker 2: Yeah, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers walking
Speaker 2: off the job here. Kind of a blow here for
Speaker 2: a new CEO that's really been on the job for
Speaker 2: less than two months. Here we do talk about that
Speaker 2: strike and what the effect is on Boeing, and we're
Speaker 2: going to continue that story right now with the head
Speaker 2: of their union. We welcome in right now our Bloomberg
Speaker 2: audiences across all of our platforms, a discussion here about
Speaker 2: those thirty three thousand workers walking off the job.
Speaker 3: We're joined right now.
Speaker 2: By the lead negotiator of those talks on the labor
Speaker 2: union side, John Holden. He's president of IAM District seven
Speaker 2: five one. John, Thanks for being here on the day
Speaker 2: we were looking at a twenty plus percent pay raise
Speaker 2: down the lad line for workers that was rejected their
Speaker 2: original plan or the original proposal that had come out
Speaker 2: of the labor union side. What was that percentage and
Speaker 2: do you think you're going to get there?
Speaker 3: You know, thank you for having me.
Speaker 4: You know, our members have worked hard over the last
Speaker 4: ten years to place themselves in a position of leverage.
Speaker 3: It's been a long road.
Speaker 4: We haven't renegotiated our full contract since two thousand and eight,
Speaker 4: so there's a lot to address. We've certainly, you know,
Speaker 4: had some tough times when our membership was threatened with
Speaker 4: job loss and moving jobs away from our production facilities
Speaker 4: here in Washington, and so there are some pretty deep
Speaker 4: wounds that our members had to work through. We proposed
Speaker 4: over forty percent wage increases, and you know, our members
Speaker 4: certainly deserved those those wages, but there's many other things
Speaker 4: as well. We have also lost our defined benefit pension,
Speaker 4: there was a mass cost shift on healthcare, and there's
Speaker 4: many other issues that our members are looking to address,
Speaker 4: and we're going to work hard to do that.
Speaker 3: They're confident, they're ready.
Speaker 4: They've put themselves in the strongest leverage position possible at
Speaker 4: the right time.
Speaker 3: So that's where we're at.
Speaker 2: What's the relationship right now? Like John, with management at Boeen,
Speaker 2: particularly at the executive side, do they seem meanable to
Speaker 2: maybe compromising on some of these issues.
Speaker 3: Well, we'll see, we'll see.
Speaker 4: I know they're going through their own issues, but I
Speaker 4: will tell you that I'm focused solely on what our
Speaker 4: members need, what their priorities are, and we need more
Speaker 4: and we're going to definitely push that forward.
Speaker 3: John.
Speaker 1: We know the White House has been in touch with
Speaker 1: both Boeing and the union. Is that helpful to you?
Speaker 1: Have they been able to move the needle in any way?
Speaker 4: You know, we'll see. That remains to be seen, I
Speaker 4: hope so. But at this point, you know, we're going
Speaker 4: to talk with our members. We just are getting our
Speaker 4: picket lines up and running. It will be a little
Speaker 4: chaotic for the first few days here as we get
Speaker 4: into a well oiled machine sending a strong message.
Speaker 3: Our members united, a massive rejection.
Speaker 4: Of the contract and a massive vote to go on
Speaker 4: strike at ninety six percent. So you know, our members
Speaker 4: are united across all of our demographics, whether they've worked
Speaker 4: here for a few months or for forty five years,
Speaker 4: everyone's united, and we intend to go after the items
Speaker 4: that our members deserve.
Speaker 1: So I would like you to be able to outline
Speaker 1: for us at the next steps for you from where
Speaker 1: you say, do you plan to head back to the
Speaker 1: bargaining table this weekend?
Speaker 4: FMCS is involved in is calling both sides to come
Speaker 4: back to the table. So we're working through some of
Speaker 4: those items. We will certainly get back to the table
Speaker 4: as quickly as we can. We also have to talk
Speaker 4: to our members since the strike was called last night
Speaker 4: at midnight, we still have some engagement we need to
Speaker 4: do so that when we go back to the table
Speaker 4: we can propose the items that we feel we can
Speaker 4: make headway on to get a deal done. So we
Speaker 4: have a little bit of time and hopefully early next week.
Speaker 2: Are you in a position, meaning the union, are you
Speaker 2: in a position right now to provide support for work
Speaker 2: or should this strike be prolonged.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we have a very strong strike fund and our
Speaker 4: members will be eligible for that.
Speaker 3: There's a lot of opportunity for our members.
Speaker 4: We've spent the last five years talking about saving for this,
Speaker 4: you know, putting into your individual strike fund, preparing so
Speaker 4: that we could stand on principle and make sure that
Speaker 4: financial decisions aren't what will you know, make people decide
Speaker 4: whether they can accept an agreement or not, but standing
Speaker 4: on principle so that we can all move ourselves forward.
Speaker 2: I'm wondering if you could go back in time for me, John,
Speaker 2: to the line as contract, the last negotiations, and why
Speaker 2: you feel now that that maybe came up short. I
Speaker 2: know that you have the benefit of hindsight of being
Speaker 2: able to judge what was done then, but what could
Speaker 2: have been done differently that maybe would have put or
Speaker 2: maybe made you feel a little bit better about the
Speaker 2: contract situation today.
Speaker 3: Well, a lot of.
Speaker 4: This is coming from an extension that happened in twenty
Speaker 4: thirteen fourteen, and in that extension, you know, our members
Speaker 4: did lose their defined benefit pension. They were threatened that,
Speaker 4: you know, a major portion of their work would be
Speaker 4: sent somewhere else for thousands of our members, you know,
Speaker 4: threatening thousands of their families. In our community, we had
Speaker 4: a massive cost shift on healthcare, and we also had
Speaker 4: stagnated wages over the last eight years, eight to ten years.
Speaker 4: And that was on the heels of being threatened that
Speaker 4: the seven three seven Max aircraft would also be built
Speaker 4: somewhere else unless we agree to an extension and a
Speaker 4: car shift of healthcare at the time, so there's some
Speaker 4: deep wounds that we're trying to kal.
Speaker 3: And I believe this agreement had it been off of.
Speaker 4: A previous agreement from three years ago or something, might
Speaker 4: have been perceived different. But this was just a bridge
Speaker 4: too far, and our members are fighting for what they deserve,
Speaker 4: and there's many issues that we're trying to address. It's
Speaker 4: hard to pick just one, but that's what kind of
Speaker 4: led to this overwhelming vote to strike.
Speaker 1: Thank you for providing the context there. I understand that
Speaker 1: the union has requested mediation for the negotiations. How does
Speaker 1: this process change with a mediator from the NLRB leading
Speaker 1: the discussions. Does it, I don't know, prevent or rule
Speaker 1: out the chance of a quick resolution the way that
Speaker 1: we saw at the Boeing supplier Spirit Aerosystems.
Speaker 4: Well company reached out to FMCS Federal Mediation and Conciliatory Services,
Speaker 4: and so we want to get back to the table
Speaker 4: as well. That's our job is to reach an agreement
Speaker 4: that provides a better agreement for our members. I think
Speaker 4: there are benefits to having mediation, and hopefully those can work,
Speaker 4: but it doesn't deter us from addressing the needs that
Speaker 4: our members have set, they have spoken loudly. They are
Speaker 4: standing shoulder to shoulder, speaking with one voice, and we
Speaker 4: are determined to make the demands to make the improvements
Speaker 4: that they're demanding.
Speaker 1: So, as you know, Bloomberg Television speaks to or we.
Speaker 1: Our audience is analysts, whether it's equity analysts or credit analysts,
Speaker 1: and investors, bond investors and equity investors. What is your
Speaker 1: message from the union to this audience. What do you
Speaker 1: want them to know?
Speaker 4: It's not usually a group of folks that I talk
Speaker 4: to a lot, so kind of the message that I
Speaker 4: gave the company I might give to them. You can
Speaker 4: either meet the demands of our membership now, it can
Speaker 4: cost more later. I think it's important that we resolve
Speaker 4: this as quickly as we can if they take seriously
Speaker 4: our proposals, it's what our members have earned and deserved,
Speaker 4: and I think that's the best way to resolve this quickly.
Speaker 2: And just real quickly. Here too, there's been a lot
Speaker 2: of talk anytime you have these big labor strikes, it's
Speaker 2: not always just about the workers at that particular company,
Speaker 2: particularly with an ecosystem like making airplanes. Here, this is
Speaker 2: going to have reverberations for other companies, even restaurants and
Speaker 2: other things in the area.
Speaker 3: Here.
Speaker 2: Have you had any discussions at all with other workers
Speaker 2: and those lines of work, other business leaders and those
Speaker 2: areas small business leaders about how they're going to get
Speaker 2: through this should this extend for some period of.
Speaker 4: Time, Well, we've had discussions with the community at.
Speaker 3: Large for the last couple of years.
Speaker 4: In fact, you know, our efforts to fight for job
Speaker 4: security are fighting for certainly our members to have jobs
Speaker 4: long into the future, but that also brings jobs for
Speaker 4: everyone else, the other Boeing employees that aren't represented by
Speaker 4: the IM, those in the community that are in the
Speaker 4: aerospace supply chain, that have committed their lives to you know,
Speaker 4: be in aerospace and help aerospace thrive, and in everyone
Speaker 4: else that's benefited from these good jobs in the community.
Speaker 4: So it's been a it's been a fight not just
Speaker 4: for ourselves but for everyone else to ensure that we
Speaker 4: have long term jobs long into the future.
Speaker 1: John Holden, President of IAM Districts seventy five to one,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for spending some time with us
Speaker 1: and explaining your side