Boeing strike likely to run into Nov. at least

Olson said there was even a remote chance that President Bush could declare that the strike is "eroding the national interest" and invoke the Taft-Hartley Act after the elections Nov. 4, ordering the Machinists back to work for an 80-day cooling off period and sending both sides back to the table.

Taft-Hartley, enacted in 1947, was last invoked in October 2002 to end an employer lockout of more than 25,000 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in a contract dispute that had shut down West Coast ports. It was the first use of the law since 1978, and Olson said it would be an unlikely and ineffective tactic this time, too heavy-handed to achieve more than a short-lived suspension of hostilities.

Only collective bargaining is likely to work in the long run, however long a run it may be, he said.

Pickets were subdued on a chilly, damp Tuesday morning without firewood for their burn barrel outside the 737 jet factory in Renton.

"I was pretty upset" that the talks collapsed, said Tonya Thompson, hired by Boeing just a year ago. Her husband still is working as a truck driver for another company and they have no children, but "it's a big financial struggle," she said.

Still, nobody was talking about throwing in the towel.

Strikers can last "probably at least a couple more months," said Wes Lickiss, a 38-year Boeing veteran who helps get fuselages from rail cars onto the assembly line. "We're a pretty strong union."

Blondin and Tom Wroblewski, president of Machinists District Lodge 751, said the sticking point in the latest talks was Boeing's insistence on moving to replace about 2,000 union workers who distribute parts, deliver materials and perform similar tasks with outside suppliers and subcontractors.

"The words 'flexibility' and 'competitiveness' for Boeing appear to mean eliminating IAM jobs," Wroblewski said.

Boeing offered to keep the 2,000 affected workers on the payroll for the term of the contract "but that over time they're not going to be there," Blondin said.

Outsourcing has been a growing issue since the early 1990s. The Machinists want at least have the right to bid against outside companies for work they traditionally have done, noting that problems with subcontractors caused repeated delays in testing and delivery of the all-new 787 jet well before the strike.

The walkout has further pushed back that program, virtually eliminating any chance of a test flight in the fourth quarter of 2008 and probably forcing more postponements of deliveries to customers anxious for the fuel-saving, technologically advanced aircraft.

Analysts have said they think Boeing is losing $100 million or more in deferred revenue each day of the strike, for a total approaching $4 billion.

Union members get $150 a week in strike pay, less than one-seventh of their average from Boeing. Blondin said those payments from the union's $140 million strike fund, which continues to receive dues revenue from members in non-striking locals, remain secure for another four or five months.

"Our fund was well-protected" from the recent banking and stock market turmoil, he said.

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