Jon Holden is new leader of 32,000 Boeing Machinists

  • By Dan Catchpole Herald Writer
  • Thursday, March 6, 2014 9:00pm
  • Business

SEATTLE — District Lodge 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), which represents some 32,000 people who build Boeing airplanes in Western Washington and elsewhere, has a new leader.

Jon Holden, 41, succeeds Tom Wroblewski, who resigned in January, citing health reasons. Holden won 76 percent in voting Thursday, the union said at its headquarters here, and will complete Wroblewski’s term, which runs to 2016. Holden had two competitors, John Lopez and Ray Wilkinson.

“They deserve better than they’ve had,” Holden said of the District 751 membership. “We’re going to give them better than they’ve had.” He promised to give members more access to the union’s decision making process.

Holden spent 11 years as one of the union’s elected business representatives in Everett, a post from which he resigned last month to run for the district’s top spot. Before that, he spent about six years working at Boeing, then about three years as a union organizer, according to one of his supporters, Wilson Ferguson, a mechanic on the Boeing 737 flight line in Renton.

The new president takes over a district still licking its wounds after bitter, emotional contract negotiations at the end of last year.

Boeing said it would have to consider making the 777X airplane outside Washington unless Machinists accepted a benefits-cutting contract, including moving from a traditional defined-benefits pension to contribution retirement plans such as a 401(k).

The offer divided district members and pitted local union leaders against the IAM’s international headquarters in Upper Marlboro, Md. But members narrowly approved the contract on Jan. 3.

According to union insiders, the acrimonious fight was too much for Wroblewski, who a couple weeks later announced he would step down at the end of the month.

Wroblewski took over as the district president and directing business representative in 2007 after his predecessor, Mark Blondin, was tapped for a staff job with IAM headquarters. Wroblewski led a strike in 2008 and was twice re-elected, in 2008 and 2012.

Wroblewski has repeatedly declined interview requests.

The labor movement has been in decline across the country for years, and Holden faces an uphill fight in the Pacific Northwest.

“It’s largely going to be a defensive battle, if there’s much action at all,” said Jake Rosenfeld, a University of Washington sociology professor who has studied organized labor.

Holden is likely to be more militant than Wroblewski, said Scott Hamilton, an aerospace analyst and owner of Issaquah-based Leeham Co.*

“That’s not going to help with the healing process” with Boeing, he said. “I foresee more grievances filed, for whatever reason.”

Dan Catchpole: 425-339-3454; dcatchpole@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @dcatchpole.

*Correction, March 10, 2014: An earlier version of this story misstated Scott Hamilton’s position with Leeham Co.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

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.