Boeing conducted unfair practices against U.S. engineers: labor board

The U.S. National Labor Relations Board said on Thursday that Boeing Co committed unfair labor practices against its unionized engineers near Seattle and in Portland, Oregon, when it photographed and videotaped workplace marches in 2012.

The federal decision required Boeing to "cease and desist" and among other measures to post within the next two weeks a notice saying employees are entitled to join a union and participate in union activities and that Boeing won't videotape, photograph or watch union activities, or "create an impression that we are watching your union activities."

The decision by Administrative Law Judge Gerald Etchingham also requires Boeing to rescind its security and management policies that call for photographing and videotaping rallies and marches in or near the factory.

"This ruling is a searing indictment of the illegal intimidation tactics Boeing uses against its own employees," said Ray Goforth, executive director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), which filed the charges against Boeing.

Boeing said it was disappointed by the decision and disagreed with the board's rationale for the ruling.

"We don't believe it's supported by a significant amount of case law," said Tim Healy, Boeing labor spokesman.

He said Boeing was evaluating whether to appeal and whether to comply with the two-week deadline for posting notice to employees.

"That gives us some time to evaluate what our options are," Healy said.

The NLRB said the violations occurred during contract talks in 2012 when Boeing observed and recorded "peaceful solidarity walks or marches in and around" Boeing plants in Renton and Everett, Washington, and Portland.

In August 2012, as the SPEEA members began wearing red shirts on Wednesdays to show solidarity, Boeing updated its rules for union marches to include videotaping.

The rules, used previously with machinists union members, told security officers not to tape peaceful marches, the NLRB said.

But by September 2012, Boeing had removed the instruction not to record peaceful pickets, the NRLB said. Other Boeing rules required managers to call for "videotape support if a workplace march occurred."

The ruling detailed exchanges between union members and security officers at the marches. Union members testified that Boeing's security officers said they were taping "all union activities." Boeing's security officers testified that they said they were taping the marches "to document safety."

Etchingham said that "in significant instances, reliable documentary evidence fails to support accounts provided by (Boeing's) key witnesses which weighs against such accounts being credible."

Read More

Boeing will save $60,000 per job by moving engineering center to Alabama; average salary will be $89,000

The relocation of a Boeing engineering center from Washington state to Alabama is part of an effort to save more than $100 million a year, documents from the company show.

Boeing announced late last year it will move as many as 400-high paying engineering jobs to Huntsville as part of what the company described as a reorganization and realignment of its research and technology operations. The 400 jobs are among 2,000 technology positions that are being divided among centers in southern California; St. Louis, Mo.; North Charleston, SC; and Seattle, Wash.

The realignment will add jobs in Alabama, Missouri and South Carolina but existing centers in Washington state and California will lose a combined 1,200 positions.

Huntsville's center will focus on simulation and decision analytics and metals and chemical technology, according to company officials.

Internal documents obtained by the Seattle Times said the realignment will cost Boeing $150 million to implement but save as much as $100 million a year after 2016, due mostly to lower wages in the new areas. Each engineering job moved to a new state, the documents show, will produce an annual savings of $60,000 in pay and benefits. 

Boeing officials did not dispute the figures cited in the Times but said cost was just one element in making the decision to move the centers.

Boeing vice president Jim Schlueter said the company also plans to "gain access to new talent," and reduce its "footprint where we are not as productive as we should be."

The documents show as many 40 percent of the jobs at the new centers will be entry-level engineering positions. The projected average salary at the new centers would be $89,000 versus $125,000 at the Washington state/Southern California locations. With benefits added in, the company expects to spend $152,000 per engineering position at the new centers compared to $212,000 at its existing locations.

The realignment will dramatically change Boeing's engineering presence in Huntsville, the Times reports. Currently, about 1 percent of the company's engineering workforce is located in Huntsville. By 2016, that percentage will grow to 12 percent, equal to the amount in southern California.

Read More