Seattle area workers have gotten two sharp lessons lately in the limits of reform and why only a revolution that dumps capitalism can make real change for the working class. In one week, a judge condemned SeaTac airport workers to poverty-wage slavery despite a referendum that passed a $15 minimum wage law. And Boeing machinists found their boss and their International union leaders forcing a disastrous 10-year contract down their throats after they had rejected it in a 2-1 vote.
These two sharp attacks came on the heels of a feeling of victory by many workers, as the town of SeaTac, home of the airport, voted for a $15 minimum wage — highest in the U.S., defeating a harsh campaign by some of the country’s biggest corporations, first to keep the issue off the ballot and then to defeat it. When neither worked, they got a judge to declare that the town law didn’t apply to businesses on the airport or Port of Seattle property — which means most of the jobs in SeaTac.
The contract overwhelmingly rejected by the Boeing workers, members of machinists’ Local 751 International Association of Machinists (IAM), followed Boeing’s long-term plan to rid itself of unions and decent wages and benefits. The contract would liquidate their pensions and destroy their wages. No sooner had the machinists voted down the sellout contract than Boeing began plotting with the top leadership of the union to ram the contract down their throats anyway.
Walking away from renewed contract negotiations, Boeing met with top union officials to plot a new vote. On the first day of the Dec. 25-to-Jan. 1 “winter break,” a holiday won in previous contract fights, the IAM International leadership announced a new contract vote for Jan. 3. That was timed to reach as few members as possible and insure low turnout, since many older and more militant workers use vacation time to extend the holiday.
The contract was the same bad deal, but this time the media, local politicians, and the International leadership launched a coordinated full-court press to get a “yes” vote. Radio and TV ads, editorials, and mayoral press conferences all told workers that if they voted no again they would ruin the lives of their children and destroy the economy of the Puget Sound area and Washington state forever.
Even that was not enough: the IAM International leadership rigged the vote. They required special eligibility cards, but many at the 17,000-member Everett plant  never got them and had to wait in long lines in the cold to obtain “good standing” cards. Ballot counting was moved from the central Seattle union hall to various local halls making it more difficult to monitor. Clearly the fix was in. This is what capitalist democracy looks like!
With 25% of the membership absent, as planned, the contract passed by a razor thin margin of only 600 votes. Members sobbed openly in the Seattle union hall while others cried “bull****!” and one demanded the Local leave the International.
A Historic Defeat
The defeat this represents for workers cannot be understated. Local 751 was the largest and most militant local left in the IAM. The precedent set by this sellout contract has probably dealt the Local a fatal blow.
Under this new deal members lose their defined-benefit pension plan, conservatively estimated to reduce Boeing’s retirement costs by 40%. Pay increases change from 2% per year, barely keeping up with inflation, to 1% every two years, a reduction of 75%. The health care plan was gutted. Wage scales were frozen. That means that by 2024 when the contract expires, the three lowest labor grades will be minimum-wage jobs.
And to top it off, workers forfeit their right to strike for ten years! The fact that this rollback is occurring while Boeing rakes in record profits ($4 billion last year) only adds insult to injury. And, while turning relatively good paying jobs into minimum-wage jobs with no benefits, Boeing is getting $8.7 billion in tax breaks from the state of Washington, the largest “corporate welfare” payout by a state ever. No surprise that this sweetheart deal was spawned by Boeing lobbyist David Schumacher who is now director of the Office of Financial Management for Gov. Jay Inslee.
The ripple effect through the state was immediate. Boeing has demanded a 15% price cut from its suppliers who employ thousands in the Seattle area alone. As a result pay freezes, benefit reductions, and speed-up have become normalized for workers already living paycheck to paycheck.
Teachers find themselves under attack as the state legislature has retaken the offensive on tying teacher pay to standardized testing results. At the University of Washington graduate instructors in at least one department began the quarter with a lecture on how meager wage increases in the union contract would cost them Teaching Assistant, Resident Advisor, and teaching positions.
The Limits of Reform
Events in Seattle reveal the limits of reform. Anything that workers win capitalists immediately set about undermining. To win back the gains lost in this new contract, Boeing workers will have to aggressively fight back in the streets and on the shop floor. For workers in SeaTac to gain a living wage they will need to learn to strike and shut their shops down rather than playing within the capitalist’s “democratic” system. To end exploitation once and for all we must drop the mirage of reform altogether and fight for communist revolution!