A PAINFUL VOTE – AT 11:53 A.M. ET:  One of the most important union votes in recent history has just taken place in the state of Washington.  Members of the machinists union, defying their local leadership, voted to accept a contract that will reduce their benefits, but presumably guarantee that a Boeing assembly line will be kept open.  From Fox:

SEATTLE – Boeing machinists approved a contract Friday that would concede some pension and health care benefits in order to secure assembly of the company's new 777X airplane for the Puget Sound region, solidifying the aerospace giant's presence in the Seattle area for many years to come.

The offer fractured the union and drew unusual pleas from politicians who said the deal was necessary to support the area's economic future. Boeing has been exploring the prospect of building the 777X elsewhere, a move that could trigger a steady exodus of aerospace jobs from the place where Boeing was founded.

Local union officials, meanwhile, urged their 30,000 members to oppose the deal, arguing that the proposal surrenders too much at a time of company profitability. They had opposed taking a vote at all but were overruled by national leaders in the Machinists union.

Tina Shrader, a Boeing worker for eight years, said she was voting no.

"I don't want to mess with my pension. I'm here for my paycheck and for my pension," Shrader said.

Bob Dennis, an inspector at Boeing for six years, said he was voting for the contract because it represented the best chance to keep the 777X jobs in Washington state.

COMMENT:  As readers of Urgent Agenda know, I'm a union member.  It may only be the Writers Guild, but it's an AFL/CIO union.  Ronald Reagan was not only a union member, he was a union president.  I am pro-union, as long as that union delivers, in an honest way, for its members. 

The vote was correct.  The most important goal is to keep Boeing in the area, then work on building the company so profits can be used to provide better lives for union members.  I understand the pain of the vote.  Givebacks are always painful, especially when measured against the outrageous, sometimes obscene salaries paid to "executives," many of whom fail to deliver. 

So let's give a hand to the machinists who voted to make sacrifices to achieve a larger objective.  And let's remember that they build our planes, military and civilian, and are as important a part of the company as the shareholders and executives.

January 4, 2014