Lockheed union workers launch strike in west Fort Worth

By Scott Nishimura and Bob Cox

snishimura@star-telegram.com rcox@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH -- Striking Lockheed Martin assembly workers formed picket lines outside the gates of the west Fort Worth fighter plant starting just after midnight today, and supporters this morning honked their horns three times to mimic the union’s “Ain't No Way” slogan.

Members of the Machinists union, which represents about 3,600 workers at the plant, voted overwhelmingly on Sunday to reject the company's final contract offer and walk off their jobs. Union members rejected the offer and voted to strike by greater than 9-to-1 margins on separate ballots. The workers perform nearly all the aircraft assembly and manufacturing functions at the plant, which builds the F-16 and F-35 fighter jets.

This morning, union sympathizers even included Odin, a 3-year-old dog owned by Mike Ryan, a striker who said he has worked at the plant since 1978.

“He’s a Heinz 57, a union-made Heinz 57,” Ryan said, as Odin wandered around the lawn of the District Lodge 776 grounds just outside Lockheed’s main gate, wearing a sweater with Machinists signs stapled to it.

Like other striking workers, Ryan said he is prepared to stay out for as long as it takes to get a better package of health and pension benefits. The strikers begin collecting $150 a week from the international union strike fund after their third week on strike, but receive no compensation for the first two weeks.

“I’ve been saving for a year,” Ryan said. “I keep thinking they’re going to get smart and treat us fair,” he said of management, “but that ain’t gonna happen. It’s probably gonna be a long one.”

Workers gathered for the union vote on Sunday at the Cowtown Coliseum expressed adamant opposition to key company contract proposals. Lockheed proposed eliminating a defined benefit pension plan for new hires and wanted to reduce the number of healthcare plan options to one HMO and a plan that features higher employee deductibles and co-payments.

"No pension for new hires, that's not good," said Nick Hight, an eight-year employee. "What if my granddaughter wanted to work here?"

"They keep taking things away from us," said Kim Nguyen, an aircraft assembler who has worked 15 years at the Lockheed plant. "They've gotten too greedy. We've got to fight for something."

R.T. Rivas, 61, a striking assembler who said he has worked at the plant since 1986, said today that many workers socked as much money away as possible from working overtime to get ready for the strike.

"We’re well prepared," he said, as he carried a sign on the picket line. "Everyone knew it was coming. We’re going to stay out as long as it takes."

Lockheed spokesman Joe Stout said Sunday that the company's leaders are "disappointed that the union members rejected the company's last, best and final offer and voted to strike. Our operations will remain open and we will implement our contingency plan while focusing on meeting our commitments to our customers."

It's not clear how much a strike will affect Lockheed's production, especially deliveries of the F-35, already years behind schedule. The next-generation combat aircraft has been under increased Pentagon and congressional scrutiny because of cost increases and delays in development, testing and production.

In addition to work on assembling aircraft, the strike could affect the F-35 flight test and development program. The flight testing teams at Edwards Air Force Base in California and the Navy's Patuxent River, Md., test center both have about 150 union-represented Lockheed workers repairing and maintaining the aircraft.

Lockheed sent letters to key government program managers and contracting officers Thursday telling them of the possibility of a work stoppage, Stout said.

Two months ago, it began making plans for maintaining some production capability in the event of a strike and has identified nonunion employees who can perform many of the functions of Machinists.

As other workers not represented by the union made their way into work today, the pickets were quiet, with strikers occasionally shouting "Ain’t No Way." The pickets were respectful of other Lockheed workers – non-represented workers, and those represented by unions who have current contracts and aren’t allowed to walk out or take other job actions in support of the strikers. Lockheed Martin employs about 15,000 workers in Fort Worth.

"That’s just the way it is," said Rick Longino, 59, laid off earlier this year from a job as an office worker at the plant. Longino spent the early morning delivering iced tea, coffee, and hot dogs to the strikers.

It’s the first Machinists strike at Lockheed in Fort Worth since 2003, when union members walked out for two weeks in a dispute over benefits.

Bob Wood, a spokesman for the union in Fort Worth, said the latest dispute, is over benefits and not wages.

"It seems every time, Lockheed Martin wants to take more benefits away," he said. "These are highly skilled workers. They make the most advanced aircraft in the world. And they deserve to have decent benefits."

Wood, pushing for support from the community, framed the dispute another way.

"The CEO gets a raise, and he takes his wife out to Ruth’s Chris," he said. "These guys get a raise, and they take their wives to Outback. Which is better for the economy?"

Paul Black, president of Machinists Lodge 776 in Fort Worth, said Sunday's vote against the contract proposal was stronger than he had dared hope for.

"I'm very proud of my membership. They stood against the company and its attempt to take away good quality healthcare. And they stood against taking away the pension."

Union officials said the vote to reject the contract was 2,650 to 176, and the vote to approve a strike was 2,653 to 181. Some additional votes were being cast separately by nurses and firefighters also represented by the union.

As it has done at other locations, Lockheed tried to win worker support for the contract despite the strong opposition of Machinists leaders to the pension proposal.

The company offered annual 3 percent general wage increases during the three-year contract, a $3,000 signing bonus, an annual $800 cost-of-living payment and a 14 percent increase in pension payments for current workers.

But union leaders, stunned when members narrowly approved a similar contract proposal at Lockheed's Marietta, Ga., plant last year, had been preparing the local membership for months to expect proposals for ending the pension for new workers and having workers shoulder a higher share of healthcare plan costs.

After the vote, union members on Sunday expressed staunch opposition to those proposals.

"If we had accepted that contract there would have been no benefit of working here versus any other place. We might as well work at Wal-Mart," said David Hawkins, an aircraft assembler.

Thomas Brown, an inspector on the F-16 production line, said he went to the meeting prepared to vote for the contract but changed his mind after hearing the union leaders' arguments and the details.

"The healthcare is our main issue," Brown said. Lockheed managers, he said, have told many workers that their costs would soar under the Lockheed Martin Health Works plan.

Union leaders and rank-and-file members alike cited Lockheed's role as the nation's top defense contractor and its highly paid management, at corporate headquarters and in Fort Worth, as reasons they voted against the proposed contract.

The F-35 "is the largest government contract in history. They're making plenty of money and they need to share with us," aircraft assembler Tim Martinez said.

Bob Cox, 817-390-7723

Twitter: @bobcoxict

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