KEY POINTS:
At the gate to Boeing's massive paint shop north of Seattle on Monday, a handful of picketers make their point quietly.
The workers, who in the main join planes together, wave placards cheerfully at passing motorists, the public face of a strike by 27,000 workers which is now
moving into its second week.
Boeing's machinists walked off the job last Saturday after rejecting the company's final contract offer, idling its aircraft factories in the Puget Sound area.
There's a relaxed feel at the paint hangar picket, an outdoor stove's smoking away for cooking hotdogs and warming coffee on a sunny Sunday morning (US time).
Even Boeing's boss Scott Carson has acknowleged a lack of rowdiness at the picket lines on gates to the plant in Everett, 30 minutes drive from Seattle.
Behind the five striking workers from Taiwan, Thailand and Mexico, plane making has stopped at the aerospace giant which is staffed only by engineers and managers.
Across the road is the headquarters of District 451 of one of the United States' most powerful unions, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) which sees this fight over pay, sickness and retirement benefits and outsourcing of plane component making as a crucial one for its future.
It is the seventh since World War II. Striker Edward Quiba told the Business Herald he'd started at Boeing laying power cable to airplane engines 15 months ago after losing his job at the Bank of America in Seattle.
"I was there for 14 years but they outsourced my job to India."
The 37-year-old father of two said he had saved enough to get him through up to six months if the strike goes on that long.
While there are indications the two sides may be getting closer, history is against a quick resolution once workers walk off the job. Strikes can last for months and the present one had the support of 87 per cent of their members.
"For me it's okay, it's tougher for others. I hope it's over soon," Quiba said.
Boeing says its offer is one of the best ever in the aerospace industry and says outsourcing is necessary as globalisation requires it to be able to have work done around the world - especially in countries where that might help it sell more planes.
One analyst estimates Boeing could lose US$2.3 billion in revenue this quarter if the strike goes on. It's got a record order book and commercial plane president and chief executive Scott Carson has said if the strike lasts another week then the timing of a test flight for its flagship 787 Dreamliner could be delayed.
It's something union chiefs stressed to workers at the weekend.
"We're in the driver's seat right now," said Cezar Tiongco, another on the picket line. "If we don't get it now we won't get it at all."
Boeing points out some workers gross around US$100,000 a year - more than highly skilled engineers.
Another striking worker, Sopon Sukul, said workers only made the big money with overtime and working anti-social hours.
He moved from Thailand two years ago and works fixing wings to 787s and says his base rate is around $14 an hour.
"We have to work overtime away from our families to make a living," he said.
At the moment the strike's off the front page of Seattle newspapers and further down the bulletin on TV.
Boeing is Washington State's biggest private employer, with about 77,000 workers. It's estimated that the striking workers will lose about $130 million a month in wages - although IAM has a fighting fund that will pay workers $150 a week if the strike drags on.
