Boeing Employees Strike (2000)

Wed Feb 09, 2000

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On this day in 2000, 19,000 of Boeing Company engineering and technical employees walked off the job in what historian Howard Zinn called “the biggest white-collar strike in the [U.S.] history”.

The strike was the result of a breakdown in negotiations between Boeing and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEAA). Striking workers said the protest wasn’t just about asking for more money, it was also to “improve the culture of the company and chart a new course for organized labor”.

When asked if he thought the strike had a lasting impact on the legacy of labor unions, Charlie Bofferding, Executive Director of SPEAA, stated “I’d have to say certainly less than we would have liked…At that time, what SPEEA was going for was an attempt to rebrand the labor movement from the people who beat up bad management to the people who made working in America better for everyone. I don’t know that that message stuck.”

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• Date: 2000-02-09
• Learn More: www.knkx.org, money.cnn.com.
• Tags: #Labor.
• Source: www.apeoplescalendar.org