From TNT reporter Mike Archbold:

The burn barrel outside the front gate of Boeing’s plant in Fredrickson was still smoldering Saturday afternoon as striking machinists waved picket signs at motorists passing by on Canyon Road.

“Fight for your rights,” yelled one man as he drove by.

Horns blared almost constantly, making conversation difficult. Another motorist pulled over and handed the strikers a bag of ice cream bars.

The nearby Caveman Coffee along with KISW Radio was supplying the picketers with coffee.

The mood was upbeat among the more than 20 machinists, some with their wives and children, who stood in the warm sun stood in the sun and smiled at their supporters.

It was only Day 1 and no one knew how long they would be out of work.

“I guess it’s all up to the company,” said Ken Ruether, 47, of Eatonville who has worked for Boeing for 23 years, 16 of them at Frederickson. “We’re hoping on the warmest September on record.

“We’re optimistic. We have every reason to believe the company will do the right thing.”

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Bob Howitz has been through six strikes in his 35 years with The Boeing Co., and the maintenance electronics technician from Auburn was on the line Saturday.

So how does this year’s strike compare?

“This is lovely as far as the weather goes,” said Howitz, holding a sign near Boeing’s Auburn plant. “I’m not getting rained on. It’s not 4 in the morning. That’s a plus.”
So how does he see this strike going?

“I’d give it a minimum of a month,” he said. “They’re pretty far apart, and I don’t see a recognition of, ‘Jesus, we screwed up.’ None of that is coming through anywhere, and it’ll be a while before any of that changes.”

Mike Wilson, a 56-year-old electronics calibration technician from Sumner, has a different take on it.

“It’ll last as long as Boeing wants it to last,” he said.

Allen van Houck’s shift at The Boeing Co.’s Renton plant ended promptly at midnight Saturday morning. One minute later, he and 27,000 other union Machinists went on strike.

And the 52-year-old team lead inspector from Renton isn’t sure when he’ll return to work.

“I was saddened. It really bothered me walking out like that,” he said. “The mood on the floor wasn’t happy with Boeing’s offer. I hope the executives don’t say this was a surprise. How could they not know?”

“Look, we don’t want to strike. We’d all rather be working.”

The strike follows the collapse of last-minute negotiations between the company and union representatives in Orlando, Fla. It halts all commercial airline production at the Renton and Everett assembly plants as well as parts production in Auburn and Frederickson.

The union rejected Boeing's latest contract offer Wednesday, but leaders agreed to hold off on striking by 48 hours while both sides met with a mediator. Talks were unsuccessful, and at 12:01 a.m. Saturday, workers throughout the Puget Sound region, Portland and Wichita, Kan., began picketing.

About 20 union members and supporters held signs near the gate of the aerospace corporation’s largely empty Renton plant by mid-morning. Drivers – including a few in Boeing security cars – honked horns as they drove by. Picketers said the response from the community has been largely positive.

“It’s encouraging. Absolutely, it is,” said Renton’s Linda Herrmann, who works as a sealer. She and others said Boeing’s latest contract offer was rife with problems, and the most worrisome for many picketers were the outsourcing of jobs, retirement benefits and raising the minimum pay.

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Reporter Mike Archbold and I are heading out to several Boeing plants today to interview striking workers. Got any questions we should ask them?