<p>My husband is an engineer and there are rumblings of a strike in the next few months. The last time they went on strike it was for 1 1/2 months and was one of THE most stressful times in our marriage. Having him home (bored) day after day as well as the financial aspect was very tough on all of us.</p>
<p>This time I believe we’re more prepared financially. We have 3 month’s salary in easily accessed savings (although that money was earmarked for a home improvement project). Our son’s tuition (beyond his scholarships) for the next 4 years is either in savings or CD’s.</p>
<p>As of today we are spending no money beyond what we need to get by.</p>
<p>I’d love some advice though as to how else we can prepare both financially and/or mentally for this. For those who have been through a strike (or two), what helped you get through it?</p>
<p>You are very lucky to be seemingly financially sound - I am sure it was not “luck” at all but hard work and foresight. Congratulations.</p>
<p>I have some closets that could be cleaned - ;)</p>
<p>How about volunteering at the local school? Our elementary school loves to have Dad’s come in an read and do stuff with the kids - they generally get a lot of Mom’s so having a man come in is special.</p>
<p>Having the $$ set aside for college is a BIG plus. I would hate to tell my kid that he has to leave college because of a strike.</p>
<p>Do you have a line of credit already established? It would add the ability to go more than 3 months, if the strike lasted longer than that. The trouble with lines of credit is that you need a job to get one. So best to get one now while you have a job.</p>
<p>must be- cause SPEEAs contract doesn’t end till sometime in Dec- I expect the engineers will take advantage of their ability to weather the strike ( and I know that currently many have been working overtime in anticipation) & go someplace nicer than Seattle in January.</p>
<p>it won’t because Boeing is already building planes overseas and subcontracting out critical parts of the operation- industry is moving toward that model- regardless of how long anyone strikes.
Of course offshoring parts to places like Italy and South Carolina where the companies hadn’t experience at the level necessary to support the 787 caused the backlog IMO- but that shouldn’t have been a surprise to management.</p>
<p>Yes to SPEEA. The last time there was a strike we were so ill-prepared. We had our heads in the sand and were hopeful there wouldn’t be a walk out. This time, knowing what we know, we need to be prepared both financially and emotionally. </p>
<p>We do have a line of credit, have had it for some time. We used it this past spring to spruce up our house before putting it on the market. The house sold, we moved and we paid it off. I’d hate to tap into it again, we love living credit free, but I suppose we will if we have to.</p>
<p>Last year my husband was working tons of OT, this year there has been virtually none on his projects which is a shame. We’re going to try and sock away as much money as possible in the next few months and some things we wanted to do to our new home will just have to wait. And as tempting as it may be, we won’t be taking a vacation if they go on strike this winter!</p>
<p>I worry about him being without work though. We nearly drove each other to drink last time around! He isn’t a hobby kind of guy and can be so sedentary if given half a chance. We’ve been doing some volunteering in our new community, so maybe he’d spend the time really sinking his teeth into one of those projects…</p>
<p>This strike could force Boeing into a total new model costing Seattle 1000’s of jobs. An 11-12% raise is not enough??? Are they suicidal? Boeing should just fire them all and bring in replacement workers. There are plenty out there who would jump at the chance.</p>
<p>If he won’t get out of the house, then you need to. Any cheap hobbies outside the home you can take up?</p>
<p>I don’t know how close he is to retirement, but this downtime could be a good time to practice “retirement.” What would he do if he were retired?</p>
<p>How 'bout having him tackle all those “yeah it’s important but I don’t have time for it now” jobs like: reviewing your wills and POAs and investments and insurances and beneficiaries and … and … and … Would be a bad idea to reorganize your files either.</p>
<p>Thanks Barrons, thanks a lot for your thoughts. Apparently you don’t know anyone who has worked at Boeing for 30+ years and watched their standard of living essentially remain the same over the years (even with cost of living and merit raises) as they receive constant attention for the quality of the work they produce. Or watched the medical benefits dwindle away each and every time there is a new contract. My husband and my philosophy is that it is better to work than to strike, however we don’t get the final say in that regard, and quite honestly there is more to things than what you read in the newspaper.</p>
<p>That’s all I’m going to say on this matter, as I didn’t post this for it to become a debate about the merits of whether to strike or not. Hopefully some who have gone through a strike can chime in regarding my initial questions.</p>
<p>Unfortunately my office is in our home, that’s the problem. I’ll have to talk to him about the “retirement” thing. Maybe if he looked at it from that perspective he might be able to come up with some things to keep himself busy. Thanks!</p>
<p>Files were organized before we moved this summer, but the wills, investments would be a good idea (although in this market, probably pretty scary) as well, thank you!</p>
<p>As I said, don’t like what they offer, there’s the door. Many if not most people in the area who know Boeing know that the work is not overly stressful or difficult. They did not call it the Lazy B for nothing. A good friend of mine at work spent several years working as an outside contractor doing work at Boeing plants. He was not impressed by the work ethic or the work demands. As a contracted person he was paid far less to do more work than the inside people. He’s a hardworking guy and has no sympathy for the Boeing strikers. I think they are nuts.</p>
<p>An 11-12% raise is not enough???
Originally it was 9% and that is over a three year period- not 9% for three years.
Other cuts are also being made, that make that contract still less money than before 9/11.
The last two contracts have had ZERO wage increases- since everyone was down graded on the pay scale after 9/11, this is the time to maybe make up some of that lost income.
H makes less per hour than a teacher- & that is with top security clearance and 20+ years experience.
( incidentally- he voted to accept original contract- but he is not going to cross the picket line)</p>
<p>but as far as driving each other crazy- this is a good time to see what retirement might be like
take a class together ( or seperately)
get out of the house!</p>
<p>You really do need to talk about this in advance since you know what happened last time. Use the preparing for retirement route and discuss how each of you see yourself spending time in retirement. That will make it clear that you do not want to spend your retirement keeping him company watching reruns on TV and hopefully get him motivated to look at other options. </p>
<p>Just because your office is in the house, doesn’t mean that your social/volunteer life must be also. If you can’t get away during the day, plan to be involved in something by yourself during a couple of evenings a week. That may be taking a class, going to exercise, volunteering. Ask him to take over a couple of your chores while he is on strike to allow you to do this. Give him the option to be part of the solution. </p>
<p>And recognize that it is okay if he watches TV a lot more or aimlessly surfs the net as long as he doesn’t interfere with what you want to do. That is his choice, it doesn’t have to be yours. Take the lead and he may get tired of staying at home by himself. It might also be a good idea if you plan a regular “date” night during this. You will both feel less resentment if you fixed something special for dinner and are watching TV because you are on a date and rented a movie than simply there is nothing else to do. And he will see that you want to spend time with him, just not ALL your time with him.</p>
