A Boeing worker has filed a charge with the National Labor
Relations Board against the Machinists District Lodge 751 over the union's
handling of the Boeing contract offer.
The complaint brings Washington state’s fight over the
777X-related contract vote onto an additional arena.
“A charge has been filed by an employee against the
Machinists union, alleging the union failed its duty of fair representation, by
failing to give sufficient information to allow employees to make an informed
vote on the contract,” said NLRB spokesman Gregory King late Friday.
The charge is another complication in the puzzle about where
Boeing may decide to assemble the 777X.
“We are aware of the charge, and have referred it to our
attorneys,” said Machinists District Lodge 751 spokesman Bryan Corliss on
Friday.
A resolution in favor of the person issuing the complaint
about the initial contract vote could conceivably force another union vote, which
theoretically bring an outcome different from the earlier vote, when the local
rank and file members overwhelmingly rejected the company's contract offer.
King was unable to say what redress the complainant is
seeking. The charge was filed on Dec. 11, but only on Friday came to the
attention of the NLRB media office, King said.
The charge is specifically focused on the days leading up to
the Nov. 13 vote on Boeing’s first contract extension offer to Machinists
District Lodge 751, which was defeated with a 2-1 vote.
It does not include the current dispute about whether or not
Boeing workers will get a chance to vote on a second proposal that was offered
by the company but rejected by union leaders.
Under NLRB rules, King was unable to share the name of the
person who filed the claim, until the agency has made a determination if there
is merit, he said.
The next step will be for the NLRB regional director to
decide if the charge has merit, a process that can take seven to 12 weeks, King
said.
“Board agents will gather evidence, take affidavits, then
their findings will be evaluated by regional director, his determination gets
reviewed at headquarters,” he said. “During the period of investigation and
evaluation, the majority of charges are usually settled, withdrawn or
dismissed.”
This raises the question of whether the filing will be
resolved in time to have any impacts on decisions Boeing may make. Company
leaders have said they will make a decision about where to assemble the 777X
early in 2014, and some observers think that will be by the end of January,
before any NLRB process would be completed.
The filing brings the NLRB into a Boeing labor dispute. In
2011, the NLRB investigated a complaint that Boeing's decision to open the
North Charleston, S.C. 787 assembly plant was in retaliation for earlier labor
actions by the Machinists in the Puget Sound area.
That dispute was the result of a Machinists District 751
charge against Boeing. It was only resolved after the Machinists dropped it, as
part of a the 2011 contract extension that brought the Boeing 737 Max to
Renton.
Meanwhile several groups of Machinists are fighting their
own union, seeking a chance to vote on a second contract offer that the company
made, and which Machinist leadership rejected.
Source: Puget
Sound Business Journal
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