Retirees grateful for Boeing benefits, split over contract

Wes Nielsen lives on Easy Street. He really does, it’s a short street near Everett’s Beverly Lane. He is also a Boeing retiree with a traditional pension.

“I did not have to pay into a pension,” he said.

Some might say that puts the 82-year-old on another type of easy street, the state of being financially secure.

He earned it. Nielsen, a longtime member of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, worked 30 years for the Boeing Co. He started in 1954 at Boeing’s Plant 2 in Seattle, and spent years at the Everett plant.

“I worked in the manufacturing part, putting airplanes together. I started on the B-52 and finished on the B-2,” he said. Nielsen also worked on the KC-135, and on Boeing’s 707, 727, 737, 747 and 767.

He was an IAM shop steward. He weathered several strikes, and layoffs, too.

Yet Nielsen said if he had been voting on the Boeing contract extension that IAM members nixed this week, he would have chosen to accept it. On Wednesday, IAM members soundly rejected the proposal, with 67 percent of those who voted turning it down.

“I have been surprised,” Nielsen said. “They were going to be getting $10,000. That’s a nice piece of change.”

Nielsen knows that for most Americans, the retirement picture has changed. Company-funded pensions are rare, and most workers must contribute partly or greatly to their own nest eggs.

“Boeing is very generous with its people, and pays very well,” Nielsen said. He was disappointed by the immediate negative reaction some union members had to the company’s offer.

Nielsen certainly doesn’t speak for all retired Machinists. Like union members who voted on the contract that could have assured production of Boeing’s new 777X in Everett, the former workers are split on the issue.

Paul Staley, 73, was both a member of the Machinists union and an actual machinist. The Everett man retired in 1998 after 32 years with Boeing. He also has a pension — a benefit the proposed contract would have ended and replaced with a 401(k) type of retirement plan.

In the 1960s, Staley was among the thousands of Boeing workers known as “the Incredibles” who built the first 747 in less than 16 months.

He thinks the company could have sold the eight-year contract proposal with a give-and-take approach. “This was given to the employees as ‘You do what I say.’ It was either buy this or get a kick in the pants,” Staley said.

Staley is saddened by changes in the company that he said began “about the time I retired.”

“They’ve lost touch with the way it used to be,” Staley said. “On that original 747 crew, I really loved my work. My managers understood our work. They had worked with us.”

Staley places some blame on workers who perhaps haven’t kept pace with technical and global changes. “The whole world has changed,” he said.

“But on this contract, I really think it went down because of the way employees were treated, not because of what was offered,” Staley said. “It was like, you play ball with me or I’m going to beat you up.”

Everett’s Alan Gale, 74, has a strong opinion about the contract offer even though he wasn’t in a union at Boeing.

“I was an estimator in finance,” said Gale, who retired from Boeing nine years ago. Like Staley and Nielsen, he is part of the Bluebills, a group of Boeing retirees who do volunteer work.

“I wasn’t surprised at all,” Gale said about Wednesday’s contract vote. “I thought it was a terrible offer. At the end of the day, they were losing, not gaining.” At the same time, Gale said, “I have mixed emotions about it. When I started in aerospace, I made $2.10 an hour.”

Gale sees competition on Boeing’s horizon. Thirteen years ago, he worked in Asia doing modifications on 747s. “I was in Beijing. From what I have seen, they have every capability of building airplanes,” he said.

The men are grateful for the careers they had, and the benefits they still receive. They proudly represent Boeing as volunteers. Donating their time now, they have put together science kits for the Everett School District, and have worked with charities on holiday gift and meal programs.

“It’s something to keep me active,” said Gale, who still has access to a Boeing office and computers to work on the Bluebills newsletter.

None of the three can say what Boeing’s workforce will look like 20 years from now. Will Everett be on easy street?

Nielsen wishes union members would have shown more wisdom in their vote. Staley wishes the company would have taken more time to negotiate.

“I have two sons who still work at Boeing. I think one voted it up and the other voted it down,” Staley said. “It was asking people to make a decision for the next 30 years of their life, and to do it this instant.”

Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460, jmuhlstein@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Local News

A firefighter stands in silence before a panel bearing the names of L. John Regelbrugge and Kris Regelbrugge during the ten-year remembrance of the Oso landslide on Friday, March 22, 2024, at the Oso Landslide Memorial in Oso, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘Flood of emotions’ as Oso Landslide Memorial opens on 10th anniversary

Friends, family and first responders held a moment of silence at 10:37 a.m. at the new 2-acre memorial off Highway 530.

Julie Petersen poses for a photo with images of her sister Christina Jefferds and Jefferds’ grand daughter Sanoah Violet Huestis next to a memorial for Sanoah at her home on March 20, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. Peterson wears her sister’s favorite color and one of her bangles. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
‘It just all came down’: An oral history of the Oso mudslide

Ten years later, The Daily Herald spoke with dozens of people — first responders, family, survivors — touched by the deadliest slide in U.S. history.

Victims of the Oso mudslide on March 22, 2014. (Courtesy photos)
Remembering the 43 lives lost in the Oso mudslide

The slide wiped out a neighborhood along Highway 530 in 2014. “Even though you feel like you’re alone in your grief, you’re really not.”

Director Lucia Schmit, right, and Deputy Director Dara Salmon inside the Snohomish County Department of Emergency Management on Friday, March 8, 2024, in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
How Oso slide changed local emergency response ‘on virtually every level’

“In a decade, we have just really, really advanced,” through hard-earned lessons applied to the pandemic, floods and opioids.

Ron and Gail Thompson at their home on Monday, March 4, 2024 in Oso, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
In shadow of scarred Oso hillside, mudslide’s wounds still feel fresh

Locals reflected on living with grief and finding meaning in the wake of a catastrophe “nothing like you can ever imagine” in 2014.

Kelli Littlejohn, who was 11 when her older sister Melissa Lee was murdered, speaks to a group of investigators and deputies to thank them for bringing closure to her family after over 30 years on Thursday, March 28, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
‘She can rest in peace’: Jury convicts Bothell man in 1993 killing

Even after police arrested Alan Dean in 2020, it was unclear if he would stand trial. He was convicted Thursday in the murder of Melissa Lee, 15.

Ariel Garcia, 4, was last seen Wednesday morning in an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Dr. (Photo provided by Everett Police)
Everett police searching for missing child, 4

Ariel Garcia was last seen Wednesday at an apartment in the 4800 block of Vesper Drive. The child was missing under “suspicious circumstances.”

The rezoned property, seen here from the Hillside Vista luxury development, is surrounded on two sides by modern neighborhoods Monday, March 25, 2024, in Lake Stevens, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Despite petition, Lake Stevens OKs rezone for new 96-home development

The change faced resistance from some residents, who worried about the effects of more density in the neighborhood.

Rep. Suzan DelBene, left, introduces Xichitl Torres Small, center, Undersecretary for Rural Development with the U.S. Department of Agriculture during a talk at Thomas Family Farms on Monday, April 3, 2023, in Snohomish, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Under new federal program, Washingtonians can file taxes for free

At a press conference Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene called the Direct File program safe, easy and secure.

Former Snohomish County sheriff’s deputy Jeremie Zeller appears in court for sentencing on multiple counts of misdemeanor theft Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at Snohomish County Superior Court in Everett, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Ex-sheriff’s deputy sentenced to 1 week of jail time for hardware theft

Jeremie Zeller, 47, stole merchandise from Home Depot in south Everett, where he worked overtime as a security guard.

Everett
11 months later, Lake Stevens man charged in fatal Casino Road shooting

Malik Fulson is accused of shooting Joseph Haderlie to death in the parking lot at the Crystal Springs Apartments last April.

T.J. Peters testifies during the murder trial of Alan Dean at the Snohomish County Courthouse on Tuesday, March 26, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Bothell cold case trial now in jury’s hands

In court this week, the ex-boyfriend of Melissa Lee denied any role in her death. The defendant, Alan Dean, didn’t testify.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.