Boeing's workers have gone on strike in Seattle, as over
18,000 people have walked off the job. This strike illustrates a typical method that companies use to make money -- use the excuse of a downturn to persuade Unions to accept cuts to wages. Then, when things get better, they pocket the extra money. Workers are striking in Seattle, Gresham OR, and Wichita KS.
The vote to strike was almost unanimous, with almost 86% of the employees voting for the strike.
Here is what the Union had to say:
The leaders had urged the 18,400 members to "reject this insulting Boeing proposal," saying it fell woefully short on their top issues including pension payments and increased health care costs. District Lodge 751 is negotiating for employees in all three states, although some terms differ based on location. News of the strike vote was met by a chorus of cheers, hugs and backslapping by hundreds of workers gathered at the union's hall in south Seattle.
Larry Weckhorst, a 16-year Boeing veteran from suburban Seattle, said he anticipated a strike was coming because "the mood was just different from three years ago," when the Machinists accepted what they considered a sub-par contract because of the airline industry's dismal state after the 2001 attacks.
Now "the production rates are going up, the stock price is going up," Weckhorst, 47, said. He added: "That pension (issue) is huge. Look at how old our work force is."
The company offered Machinists -- who average 49 years of age -- a pension of $66 per month for every year worked, up from $60. The union says that falls far short of what its workers deserve.
The Union is right -- A person who has worked at Boeing would make a pension of $23,760 if they worked 30 years at the company. If someone working at the company were to make $50,000 a year, that would seem like a lot at first. But the problem is, one catastrophic medical bill can wipe out a $50,000 income, even assuming that the person has managed their money well.
Since 2000, medical insurance premiums have gone up 57%; the average family policy cost almost $10,000 according to USA Today. By contrast, the pension increase offered by the company would have only been $66 per month worked, compared to $60 per month per month worked in 2001.
Here, from the USA Today article, is how a typical person gets hammered by a big medical bill:
Crystal Cox, 49, whose 58-year-old husband, Gary, died in October after five months in the hospital, has health insurance. But like many insurance plans, it covers only 80% of hospital bills. So Cox, who earned $12,000 last year at her job cleaning an elementary school, says she owes the hospital $20,000 for the treatment her husband received for strokes and complications of diabetes. The North Bangor, N.Y., resident shops at lowest-cost grocery stores and keeps her thermostat set low in the winter, looking to save wherever she can.
Because of her debt, she avoids going to the doctor herself, putting her among the 29% of those surveyed who reported that they, or someone in their household, had skipped medical treatment, cut pills in half or failed to fill a prescription in the past year because of cost. "I just don't want to add more bills to what I'm already carrying," Cox says.
This is a person who works hard, plays by the rules, and does everything right. So, why, according to the Conservatives, is it somehow her fault that she is being hit by a big medical bill? Was it her fault her husband got a stroke and diabetic complications and died prematurely at 58?
Boeing's workers make around $60,000 a year. But even a $65,000-a-year income does not insure a family against catastrophic medical bills:
The 45-year-old high school teacher lives just outside Albany, N.Y., with his wife, Cindy, and two of his three children on an annual income of about $65,000. His oldest child just graduated from college. His job provides insurance, for which Herchenroder pays about $3,000 annually toward the premium; his employer pays the rest. He has rheumatoid arthritis, and his 11-year-old son has asthma and diabetes. They recently paid $1,000 for their share of the cost of an insulin pump. Everyone in the family takes at least one prescription drug. Each month, he estimates, the family spends $280 on drugs alone.
"We dip into credit cards, and it starts to become a big cloud," he says. "We have good insurance but still some amount of (financial) trouble. Medical costs affect our lifestyle. We don't vacation. We don't eat out. I buy cars with blown engines and put new engines in them so we have something to drive. I've never owned a car newer than 6 years old."
Again: Is it his fault that all of his family has medical problems and they have to rely on junk cars?
These Boeing workers have a legitimate case, and furthermore, it illustrates a fundamental flaw in our medical system -- it places a price on human life.
As Democrats, we need to work towards a society in which there is no price on human life. We need to work for a day in which, if you get sick and need medicine, the government will pay for it, so more people can live productive lives and put money into the economy. A healthy worker is a happy worker; and a happy worker is a worker who will put much more into the economy than the government spends to get you well.
