Labor Laws and Unions
Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Boeing company is ranked 36th in 500 Fortune list in 2011 (Fortune 500, 2011). Boeing comprises of five segments: Commercial Airplanes, Boeing Military Aircrafts, Network & Space Systems, Global Services & Support, and Boeing Capital Corporation. Boeing products and services include in the design, development, manufacture, sale, and support of commercial jetliners, military aircraft, satellites, missile defense, human space flight, and launch systems and services worldwide. Boeing is one of the largest aircraft manufacturers in the world. It supplies aircrafts to more than 90 countries. It employs more than 160,000 people across the United States and in 70 countries. For the last five years, Boeing average revenue is approximately 64 billion dollars and about 3 billion dollars in net profit. Boeing is ranked 36 in the Fortune 500 companies.
There are currently two union organizations within Boeing; the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers local 751 (IAM) and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees (SPEEA). Unionization process started when Union representatives organized Boeing employees to obtain more than 50 percent of signed authorization cards. Then election was petitioned and recognized by the National Labor Relation Board (NLRB) and thus unions were certified and formed. Union members receive higher wages, better benefits and working conditions than the non-union members do. According to Mishel and Walters, “Unions raise wages of unionized workers by roughly 20% and raise compensation, including both wages and benefits, by about 28%”. Union representatives on behalf of union workers negotiate with Boeing management for work contract covering terms and conditions of wages, benefits, and working conditions that are favorable for union workers. Unions typically sign a contract with Boeing on a three-year basis. Unions are in position to negotiate with Boeing for a new contract scheduled in summer of 2012.
There has been tension between Boeing and the union workers. Since 1977, the union has gone on strike five times, notably including a 69-day strike in 1995 and 58-day walkout in 2008 that cost Boeing an estimated 2.5 billion dollars according to Bloomberg Businessweek and USA Today. In recent years, Boeing invested heavily on its big and fuel efficiency new 787 Dreamliner. To accommodate the increasing demand of the 787 Dreamliner, Boeing decided to build a new production plant in South Carolina. However, the unions believed Boeing violated a labor law, which prohibits “runaway shops” rule, where a company closes a unionized plant, and reopen a non-union plant in other location. In addition, they believed that the move was to retaliate against union workers for the past strikes and to deter them from future strikes. Thus, the unions filed their grievance complaint to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). And, the NLRB found Boeing has broken the unfair labor practice against Boeing. Boeing vehemently protested the charges. Boeing reasoned that the new production plant would only add capacity to keep up with the increasing demand of new 787 airplanes and believed it has business right to determine the location of operating business, which provide its business a competitive business edge. The ruling so far is to force Boeing to build entire 787 Dreamliner airplanes in Washington state and not in South Carolina state. Subsequently, Boeing and South Carolina state administration have actively appealed the decision. The court proceeding is still in pending. This matter if not resolved is further complicating the contract talk between Boeing and the unions in the summer of 2012.
Though the litigation has reached the impasse and is in pending for further ruling, some recommendations to minimize possible litigation are one both involving parties needs to have practical goals so that they can achieve an agreement as an integrative bargaining or win-win agreement. If not successful, the matter should be settled by an independent third-party arbitration, which aims to bring benefits of both sides.

REFERENCE
Boeing’s Strike: Go Figure. (2005). Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_39/b3952115.htm
Mishel, Lawrence. and Walters M. How unions help all workers. Retrieved from http://www.epi.org/publication/briefingpapers_bp143/
Our view: Boeing vs. union threatens Dreamliner investment. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2011-06-23-Boeings-union-pains-threaten_n.htm