The National Labor Relations Board has found that the Boeing Co. violated labor law during negotiations with union members in Washington state in 2012.
A September 2012 Bloomberg story spurred the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers Local 2001 to request information on salary, wages and productivity from Boeing during labor talks.
The story quoted Boeing Engineering Vice President Mike Delaney saying: “We’re committed to Puget Sound ... But we will do — and I have told SPEEA this — when we do the next airplane, I will do and use whatever resources it takes to launch the airplane.”
Boeing did not supply the requested information, and within two days of the article’s publication, the union filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB, according to board documents.
NLRB Administrative Law Judge Dickie Montemayor issued the order July 31 that said Boeing violated labor law by not providing the requested information to the union, which was relevant to negotiations after Delaney’s statements.
“The information sought clearly had a bearing on the bargaining process,” Montemayor wrote. The company’s “failure to provide requested information undermined and tainted the bargaining process.”
Montemayor heard the case in February. Boeing told the judge that the Bloomberg News story was “inaccurate and unreliable.” The judge rejected the argument, saying Boeing did not seek retraction or correction of the story at the time.
Montemayor ordered the aerospace company to provide wage rates, regional salary information and productivity data from various company locations to the union, which represents engineers and technical workers.
The order also tells Boeing to provide notice of the ruling to all the employees whose collective bargaining rights were violated.
“This pattern of disdain towards the workforce and the laws that protect those workers should worry everyone who is a stakeholder in the Boeing Co.,” SPEEA Executive Director Ray Goforth said in a statement. “This lawless behavior is not helpful.”
Boeing did not immediately return requests for comment. In May, Boeing was found guilty of illegally intimidating SPEEA members through the use of surveillance during the same contract negotiations.
The SPEEA, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, represents around 25,000 aerospace professionals at Boeing, Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kan., and Triumph Composite Systems Inc. in Spokane, Wash.
Boeing produces 787 Dreamliners at its Lowcountry and Puget Sound sites. The Boeing South Carolina plant is not unionized, though the Machinists union opened an office in the Lowcountry this year in an effort to unionize it.
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