Escalate the Strike to Win!

The momentum from the Machinists’ resounding rejection of the TA is at risk of slipping away. This strike could be a game-changer for the working class. But District 751 head Jon Holden demonstrated that he did not want this strike, and the IAM leadership is not organizing it to win. Picket lines have been kept small and stripped of any initiative that could actually bring a quick and decisive victory—like stopping the scabs and shutting Boeing down tight.

Looking to wait out Boeing is not the answer. The Machinists’ greatest leverage lies not simply in the membership’s willingness to sacrifice but in mobilizing its numbers and solidarity to pack the strongest punch to bring Boeing to its knees as fast as possible. To win their demands and more, Machinists must take the initiative right now to escalate the strike.

It is clear that Boeing workers need to meet as a group to work out how to make the strike stronger. Machinists who want to take the fight to the bosses should organize discussions among union members over strike strategy. One way to do so is to use the time on the picket lines to gather everyone into a workers’ assembly.

At these meetings and in all their strike activity, a core of fighting Machinists can point the way forward for the strike, the union and the entire working class by seeking to spread the strike and amplify its impact. The bosses everywhere have made a wreck of industry, jobs and workers’ lives. The forces are out there to build mass picket lines to stop the scabbing, including all contract and non-production work. Boeing engineers and firefighters are also feeling the company’s squeeze and have every reason to join the Machinists’ strike. Washington state union employees and area hotel workers and electricians have locked horns with their bosses in recent months. Appealing to these and other unions on the basis that the Machinists’ fight is their fight, too, could rally the support needed to stop Boeing dead in its tracks.

The ILWU, Teamsters and rail workers should be enlisted to help cut off parts deliveries. Nothing should go in or out of Boeing—the whole point is to force management to capitulate. Furloughed aerospace workers in the region should be encouraged to join the picket lines and brought into the union. Seizing the moment to organize the unorganized in this way would throw open the door to unionizing Boeing’s North Charleston plant and the industry more broadly. Obtaining more strike pay would make it easier for Machinists themselves to man the picket lines and wage the necessary battle. Strike committees of fighting Machinists should be launched around a plan of action for victory:

• Organize meetings, beginning on the picket lines, to discuss strike strategy.

• Call on other unions at Boeing and that handle Boeing parts to actively join the strike.

• Reach out to labor throughout the region to build mass picket lines that no scab dares cross.

• Significantly increase strike pay as part of building picket lines.

• Unionize the rest of aerospace and Boeing.