Boeing’s anti-union campaign hits workers where they eat

An anti-union table topper purporting to show the nutritional value of joining the International Association of Machinists/ Provided

A trio of table toppers that have shown up in the Boeing Co.’s employee cafeteria are enough to give any supporter of organized labor a case of indigestion.

Boeing placed the table-toppers — which are usually used by restaurants to promote menu items — in the cafeteria of its North Charleston campus to get its anti-union message across to employees. The International Association of Machinists last week filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold a union election for more than 2,400 eligible workers at the facility. A vote has been scheduled for April 22.

Meanwhile, the president of IAM Lodge No. 751, which represents Boeing workers in Washington state, said in a statement that he is hopeful his North Charleston counterparts will vote in favor of the IAM.

“We have raised the standard of living in the communities we live in, simply because we have had the opportunity to bargain our wages, hours and working conditions with the Boeing Co.,” the IAM’s Jon Holden said in a statement. “We feel strongly that these workers will also benefit themselves and their communities once they have the right to bargain with their employer.”

Photos

Both sides are going all-out to sway employees’ opinions.

The table-toppers use humor to get Boeing’s point across. For example, one table-topper mimics the nutrition labels found on most packaged foods, asking, “Is the IAM Healthy for You?” Another shows a picture of a piece of rotting fruit with the warning: “If you go on strike, you don’t get a paycheck, your benefits can stop and you cannot collect unemployment.” A third proclaims: “We don’t need a union. We don’t want a union.”

Boeing spokeswoman Candy Eslinger said the company produced the table toppers to inform employees about the risks associated with organized labor.

IAM spokesman Frank Larkin called the table toppers “more of the same from Boeing.”

“Interesting to see that one of the points made is, ‘You risk losing your voice,’ ” he said. “To which many employees would rightfully ask, ‘How can I lose what I don’t have?’”

Boeing’s plant in North Charleston makes the Dreamliner twin-aisle commercial airplane, along with the company’s Everett, Wash., facility. Boeing employs about 7,500 people in the Charleston region.

Source: The Post & Courier