“What’s good for General Motors is good for the country.”
- Charles E Wilson, Secretary of Defense under Eisenhower
That quote actually isn’t accurate, but it is how history recorded it, unfortunately for Mr Wilson, who’s actual words were more along the lines of ‘What’s good for America is good for General Motors’, stated during his confirmation hearings. As the son of a long tenured GM Sales Executive, I always got a chuckle out of the that first version of the phrase, and to some extent agreed with it. After all, if GM is successful and sells more vehicles and provides more jobs, isn’t that great for everyone? Ok – an oversimplification but you get it. Ford, Stellantis and Tesla, among others, might not.
Similarly, I feel the same about Boeing, another iconic American company, involved in our daily lives – has anyone not travelled on a 737? And also our national pride, via its incredible defense aircraft, and finally our dreams and aspirations in space. It has been disappointing to see Boeing suffer so many indignities in the press since issues with its safety/quality became apparent in recent years. Stranding the astronauts in a Boeing capsule only to have SpaceX rescue them might be the greatest indignity.
Now the Machinists Union has gone on strike and for the first time I can remember, I have questions about whether this icon can survive.
In my former role as CHRO for the US wing of a large multinational company, I had deep engagement with labor issues and unions on a regular basis. Informed by that, I’d like to offer some perspective to both sides.
Unions and companies in the US have an adversarial relationship. It’s been like that since the inception of the labor movement in the latter half of the 19th century. Labor and Management are not as adversarial, as a rule, in other parts of the world. In Germany, where unions trace their history to the professional guilds of the Middle Ages, there is a more collaborative history, with unions getting board seats in major companies and having a say in some corporate policies via the ‘works council’. While this slows down company decisions at times, it may provide for more opportunities for insight on both sides. And stability.
While I am not recommending adoption of European labor practices in the United States, I am recommending that both sides try very hard to not wreck the business, the source of their income and livelihoods, as they try to find a solution to the existing problems.
My advice to the union is to resist the temptation to ‘burn it down’ as they attempt to get back what they feel like are owed due to years of cuts and no wage increases. Boeing is reporting a record loss currently in excess of $6 Billion. It is exactly at times like this that unions feel they can leverage their power as pressure on senior leadership is at an all-time high from all quarters. They have a point as the strategy is effective, and through the decades, unions have been successful in leveraging their power against very mature industries….and sometimes killing them in the process. Ask the US Auto makers, Airlines and other sectors with old infrastructure and long term workers. In the case of the automotive industry, their long-term dysfunctional relationship with the UAW has been but one element of eroding market share and jobs over many decades. I am not assigning blame here, but the existence of a doom loop in that situation cannot be denied.
My advice to Boeing is to get creative fast. Find new solutions and if there are certain members of your leadership team preaching inflexibility right now, they need to be sidelined. Understand that inflation ate up the wages of your people over the last few years. Traditional increases in the 3% range that used to work are temporarily outdated. Your mission is to find a way to share good times with the factory staff and introduce them to some sort of profit sharing based on performance. Will it solve all problems? No. Will it help in the future? To some extent.
Machinists, that means new models of collaboration for you too, not something common in organized labor. It ain’t all management’s fault. Your members own the issues with quality and safety as much as management. They were the ones with eyes on task. Take ownership and help right the ship.
A request to both sides: your company is too important to the American defense, the American spirit, the American job base and the American psyche to let the doom loop continue. Get this done, get it behind you and find some solutions to prevent the same in the future.
Even the Longshormen’s Union, after asserting some pretty alarming intentions recently, seemed to back away from the kill switch. There has to be a better way, and leaders on both sides of these issues can find it if they work hard enough on it. Keep in mind your members, your employees and your country. And keep in mind that big competitors like Airbus and SpaceX are waiting to eat your lunch.
“Hard work can lick what appear to be insurmountable difficulties.”
- William Boeing
