Does this piece have anything HN-ish about it? Just seems like a pro-union take on a normal contract negotiation.
>"Boeing’s lockout of its firefighters is simply the latest move to impose relentless cost-cutting, endangering public safety, in its pursuit of profits. But the struggle of the firefighters is not only against this powerful greedy company, but also against the military-industrial complex and the state with which Boeing is integrated."
Today it's Boeing, tomorrow it could be your local firefighters, grocery store employees, baristas, or even the technicians for the company you work for either locked out or striking, so I think it's important for all working professionals to understand the lengths that corporations go to break the back of unions and to blame all of their problems on them.
> According to the union, Boeing firefighters are stationed at locations in Auburn, Everett, Renton, Seattle and Moses Lake, and receive around 200 emergency calls per month.
Woah, is 200 calls normal for an industrial facility? This potentially like a pretty large number for a modern manufacturer.
I suspect that most of the calls were for first-aid, not fires. Most fire departments spend the vast majority of their time responding to medical issues unrelated to fires. Boeing has about 67k employees in WA, so equates to ~0.3% of them requiring assistance per month, which is a bit high, but not outrageously so (as they may have rules about requiring trained first aid for any injury or ailment).
"The IAFF argues that these firefighters have saved Boeing billions of dollars in loss and insurance costs"
The neoliberial practice is such that you could give someone a billion in cash and they'd have no qualms firing you. A close friend of mine just got terminated out of an agreement with a shop that sells services to online sellers although in the span of over five years he's brought them customers with a net worth of around a million Euros. "Sorry, not interested anymore, see you", and that was it.
>"Boeing’s lockout of its firefighters is simply the latest move to impose relentless cost-cutting, endangering public safety, in its pursuit of profits. But the struggle of the firefighters is not only against this powerful greedy company, but also against the military-industrial complex and the state with which Boeing is integrated."