APRIL 2005 - speea

More documents

Recommendations

Info

SpotLite APRIL 2005 8 SPEEA Cares Fund helps during layoff I checked with my dentist’s office and confirmed that King County Labor Agency paid the past-due amount through your “SPEEA Cares” program. This is really great news because I was laid off from the contracting job I was working the last 6 months. This was after already being laid off 21 months from The Boeing Company. Boeing recalled me to Auburn this week. So, hopefully, things are finally turning around. I took a pretty severe financial beating the last couple years and would like to thank SPEEA very much for the assistance. The SPEEA Cares (KCLA) fund really helped me out in a time of need. I signed up with SPEEA at the Boeing orientation as soon as I received the enrollment form. Steve Seawell Auburn Outsourcing draws quality concerns With outsourcing increasing, I am concerned about proper attention to quality. I have seen copies of an official document called the Incident and Accident Report. Has anyone been assigned to evaluate its trends relative to outsourcing? Is there a correlation between non-Boeing provided/designed parts and greater failure rates? Has the overall incident rate been affected by the move towards large scale integration? Has SPEEA requested this information from Boeing? Alton Folks Northwest Council Chair Auburn Write to SPEEA The monthly SPEEA Spotlite accepts letters to the editor that address issues. Letters should be 250 words or less and may be edited for publication. Letters should avoid personal attacks. Letters must include both home address and daytime telephone number for verification. Due to space, not all letters can be published. Send letters to: Bill Dugovich, SPEEA, 15205 52 nd Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98188. Or e-mail your letter to: billd@speea.org ECF campaign May 2 - 6 Jennifer MacKay Jimmie Mathis Charles Bofferding SPEEA president SPEEA Council chair SPEEA executive director CEO resignation opens door to opportunity SPEEA leaders are focusing on the potential opportunities ahead in the wake of the abrupt resignation of Harry Stonecipher, president and CEO of Boeing. Stonecipher was called out of retirement in 2003 following an ethics scandal at the company. While the reason for the resignation is surprising, SPEEA President Jennifer MacKay said employees were aware Stonecipher was planning to retire within the next year. “It’s time for the right change,” MacKay said. “Employees have had enough turmoil from Boeing’s leadership. It’s time to turn this around and bring back The Boeing Company we know and love. Employees are ready to get back to what we do best - building the best commercial and military aerospace products in the world.” Jimmie Mathis, chair of the SPEEA Council, said the change can be positive for workers. “We’re looking forward to working with Harry’s replacement to make changes that will encourage all employees with an incentive to participate in building the world’s best aerospace company,” Mathis said. Alton Folks, chair of the Northwest Council, said he thought it was “disheartening” to see the trouble at the executive level despite so many people’s efforts to make the company better. “It is good that the board realizes the importance of our name,” Folks said. “Maybe we can focus a little more internally to make sure that the people are respected for their contributions to this company’s success,” Folks said. “For now, I guess it’s off to more ethics classes.”
SpotLite 9 APRIL 2005 Conference focuses on collaboration, building trust By Ellen Whitford SPEEA-Boeing Partnership Returning from a conference on how to foster successful collaboration, SPEEA-IFPTE leaders and managers from The Boeing Company said they were inspired by what they learned and pleased with having a chance to get to know their counterparts better. Several participants also said they thought the lessons would prove helpful in this year’s contract negotiations. “It was a wonderful conference,” said Cynthia Cole, SPEEA Executive Board Northwest Region vice president. “And it confirmed for me that the Partnership is headed in the right direction.” Cole is one of several SPEEA leaders who attended the March conference. Building relationships Sponsored by the Center for Collaborative Solutions, the conference - held in Anaheim, Calif. this year - is designed to help participants learn how to develop stronger and more productive labor-management relationships. The Ed Wells Initiative/SPEEA-Boeing Partnership sent SPEEA contract administrators, Council Reps and Boeing managers from Integrated Defense Systems (IDS), Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) and Shared Services Group (SSG). The conference gives Boeing managers and SPEEA Council Reps an opportunity to sharpen their skills, said Jeanne Blue and Maria Nelson, co-directors of the Partnership. “They come back to the workplace with some new ideas and skills,” Blue said. “They also get a chance to learn from the experiences of labor-management partnerships outside of Boeing,” Nelson said. Finding common ground Cole said she was especially interested to hear one speaker’s ideas on how labor and management build trust. Trust is built on common ground, the speaker said, and it requires that labor and management address issues they usually avoid. “That was validating, because that’s what we do in our monthly Partnership leadership meetings,” Cole said. “We discuss the ‘undiscussable’.” Debbie Dubay, an engineering manager for IDS in Puget Sound, said she learned techniques for recognizing and overcoming barriers to collaboration and found suggestions for how managers can “jumpstart” a collaborative relationship with a workgroup. SPEEA Council Rep Phil Richmond, Debbie Dubay, Boeing manager, and Cynthia Cole, SPEEA Executive Board vice president, take a break between workshops at the Center for Collaborative Solutions Conference. New context, new information Jeff Marcelia, a BCA Human Resources manager in Puget Sound, said the opportunity to get to know his SPEEA counterparts in a different context was beneficial. “It helps us develop a fuller relationship,” he said. “And that helps us trust each other, which ultimately improves how well we can collaborate and negotiate.” Larry Marrell, SPEEA Council Rep, newly elected to Executive Board Northwest Region vice president and Manufacturing Engineering planner, was impressed by what he learned about the reasons for escalating health care costs. Marrell, a member of the workforce and compensation committees in the upcoming contract negotiations, predicted the information would be valuable. Since returning from Anaheim, conference participants have met to discuss how to most effectively use and share what they learned. Within the next month, they will post information at http://speea-boeing.web.boeing.com. We just come to work here, we don’t come to die By Ross K. Rieder, President Pacific NW Labor History Association The famous Harry Stamper song, “We Just Come to Work Here, We Don’t Come to Die,” is about at least two things — hours of work and the safety conditions of work. In the month of April, we note that U.S. mineworkers obtained the 8-hour day in 1897. Incidentally, that’s just over 40 years after carpenters in Melbourne, Australia, forced the 8-hour day on their bosses. In April of 1930, British coal miners won the 7.5- hour day. A few years ago, most French workers obtained a 35-hour workweek, much under attack now. The point is: Much has been written, stated, struggled over when it comes to how much work we do each day and each month. It’s sad to note that workers in the Middle Ages spent a whole lot less time putting food on the table than present day workers — no matter what country. The Ludlow, Colorado, Massacre of April 1914 was over work hours and safety conditions. The Occupational Safety and Health Act was signed in 1971 — which indicates how long it takes to not only shorten the time of work but to obtain and maintain relatively safe conditions. (Pop quiz: Name the president who signed OSHA) The situation for American workers is so dire, with work hours exceeding all but one or two industrial nations, and safety conditions under attack from a mean-spirited national government, that a new organization called “Take Back Your Time” had to be created. I recommend you check out their six-point program at www.timeday. org. Make it one of your “favorite” websites.
Page 1 and 2: THE APRIL 2005 SPEEA-IFPTE Local 20
Page 3 and 4: SpotLite 3 APRIL 2005 published mon
Page 5 and 6: SpotLite 5 APRIL 2005 At a glance .
Page 7: SpotLite 7 APRIL 2005 community Rec
Page 11 and 12: SpotLite 11 APRIL 2005 LABOR EVENTS

APRIL 2005 - speea

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?