Union Fights Back
From the AFL-CIO
As a wave of collective action continues to sweep the country, working people are taking on one of the country’s most powerful corporations. In the face of shameless union-busting, labor leaders and Boeing workers are fighting back for the rights and dignities they deserve.
First, Boeing announced that virulently anti-union former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was joining its board of directors.
This, for example, is one thing Haley said about labor organizations: “I'm not going to stop beating up on the unions....We're going to keep fighting the unions. I'm going to keep being a union buster.”
Machinists (IAM) International President Robert Martinez Jr. was quick to call out Boeing’s decision.
“The IAM has serious concerns about the nomination of Nikki Haley to Boeing’s board,” he said. “As governor of South Carolina, Haley had a record of using anti-union rhetoric and inserting politics into working people’s decisions.”
Then yesterday, Boeing workers in Seal Beach, California, announced they were organizing with the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA)/IFPTE Local 2001 to fight back against:
- Work moving out of Seal Beach.
- Health care costs increasing dramatically.
- Rules requiring four hours of free work before earning overtime pay.
- Performance management and professional development relegated to a management afterthought.
Right-wing politicians and corporate powers continue to team up against the interests of working families. But by standing together, we’re taking the fight to them.
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