Machinists Union District Lodge 751<\/a>, which also represents hourly workers at Boeing.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nPickets had three primary goals as they walked the sidewalk between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Show support for fellow machinists during their difficult contract talks<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Inform the Kent community about the problems faced by their neighbors at Hytek<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u2022 Alert Hytek customers \u2013 and investors in its parent company, Esterline Corp. \u2013 of the lack of progress in the talks<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The picket is informational in nature and isn\u2019t necessarily a sign a strike is imminent, said Kevin Cummings, a representative of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers who is leading the union bargaining team. In fact, talks continued on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cOur members are here on their own time to support our fellow machinists, who are having a hard time getting management at Hytek to negotiate a fair contract,\u201d said Cummings in a media release. \u201cWe want them to know that they\u2019re not alone in this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Employees are seeking improvements in safety, pay and benefits.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Ferguson said he has seen brown marks on the arms of employees from chemicals they work with.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“They do not wear personal protective equipment,” Ferguson said. “Most companies supply that. We can help them with that if they get a contract.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The union points out Hytek workers routinely handle more than 100 different toxic or cancer-causing materials. Hytek management provides workers with basic safety equipment, but union health-and-safety experts have identified many areas for improvement.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Talks began in October and have become increasingly contentious, according to the union. The union in February filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing Hytek\u2019s managers of deliberately violating the workers\u2019 rights under federal labor law.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The union says Hytek\u2019s average salary of $16 an hour is far below the market rate for manufacturing workers in Washington, which is $31.15 an hour according to the state\u2019s Department of Employment Security, which tracks the pay of hourly manufacturing workers from aerospace to forest products to food processing.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Hytek employees face up to $7,200 a year in out-of-pocket health care costs before their benefits kick in, and the union says a number of Hytek workers have been forced to declare bankruptcy because their insurance didn\u2019t fully cover the hospital bills after their children were born.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t think parenthood should be a luxury reserved for the wealthy few,\u201d said Cummings. \u201cWe proposed alternative health care plans that would have provided the workers with better coverage \u2013 and cost Hytek less money \u2013 but management wasn\u2019t interested.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The machinists said they\u2019ve proposed alternatives to address the safety and pay issues too, but so far, Hytek management hasn\u2019t been interested.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
“They’re new members of our family,” said picket Keith Elliott, who has worked 25 years at Boeing. “We want to bring them aboard and let them know that we’ve got their back.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
District Lodge 751 formed in 1935 to represent hourly workers at Boeing. The union represents more than 31,000 workers in Washington, Oregon and California. District 751 members ratified in December a four-year contract extension with Boeing to ensure that the 737 MAX will be built in the Puget Sound area.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Hytek started in Kent in 1957 as Heath Plating. The company moved to its current 100,000 square-foot facility in 1989.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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