Heh - when the going gets tough, the tough bail out
Boeing Aircraft Corporation has been going through a bit of union troubles.
Boeing has been moving parts of its manufacturing to states with
Right To Work laws where union membership is optional.
In WA State (not RTW), the machinists union has been ratcheting up their demands for higher wages and bigger pensions. Boeing has been saying no and moving jobs out of state.
Stalemate -- so what does the head of the WA State Machinists union do?
From the
Seattle Times:
Machinists leader Wroblewski says he�ll retire
Tom Wroblewski, local leader of the Machinists union at Boeing, announced Tuesday night that he�ll retire effective Jan. 31 for health reasons.
His stepping down comes at a tumultuous moment for the union, whose 32,000 members are badly split. An election for Wroblewski�s replacement will be organized in the coming days, and the next leader will then face a massive task to create unity within the union.
The recent vote that passed a contract extension to secure the building of the 777X jet in Washington state split the membership bitterly and almost down the middle.
A bit more:
Since November, he�s been under pressure not only from the company but also from his own members, from local politicians, and from the union�s International leadership in D.C.
Emphasis mine -- What The Fsck do "
international leaders" have to do with business in America?
More:
In early November, he acquiesced to the will of the International, overruling his own local leadership team and staff who opposed an initial vote on the Boeing offer. In the days before that vote, Wroblewski steadfastly refused to offer his own opinion on the Boeing offer in public.
He failed to listen to his constituency. If he really is ill, I offer my condolences but from where I stand, this looks like incompetent "leadership" listening to the yes-men at the top and not those people he was supposed to lead.
Hey Tom -- don't let the door hit you where the good Lord split you...
Posted by DaveH at January 17, 2014 8:43 AM