Vol. 72/No. 36      September 15, 2008

In response, the IAM officialdom announced that they were recommending the machinists reject Boeing’s third and “final” contract offer. Unionists are voting on the pact September 3. If two-thirds of voters reject it, a strike would begin the following day. The union covers 26,000 workers in the Puget Sound region near Seattle, 1,500 in Portland, and about 800 in Wichita, Kansas.

According to IAM District president Tom Wroblewski, the contract would provide smaller wage increases to new hires than for more senior workers and would increase workers’ health-care costs.

—Brian Williams

Eurostar train cleaners in
London strike for higher wages
LONDON—Workers who clean the high speed Eurostar trains that connect London to Paris and Brussels conducted a 24-hour strike August 25. More than 120 unionists, members of the Rail Maritime and Transport union, are demanding that those who work for contractor OCS have their wage increased from £6.37 an hour to at least £7.20 (£1=$1.82). The workers were also demanding back pay, a pension plan, and sick pay. Unionists on the picket line chanted, “Fair pay and dignity at work” and “No more bullying.”

—Filip Tedelund  
 
 
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