One tough assignment: Boeing's labor man hopes for union peace

Today and tomorrow, The Times profiles the lead negotiators for Boeing and the Machinists union, who this week check into a SeaTac hotel for round-the-clock bargaining. The Machinists' contract with Boeing, covering 25,000 workers, expires Sept. 1.

Today's story is on Jerry Calhoun, the soft-spoken Mississippi native who is one of the most visible black executives at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Tomorrow's profile is on Mark Blondin, one of four sons from a union family in Burien who has risen to the presidency of Machinists Dist. 751.

To get a measure of the tough gig Jerry Calhoun faces as Boeing Commercial Airplanes' top labor negotiator, consider: His last major assignment ended with Boeing's engineering and technical workers rejecting the company's contract offer three times, two failed interventions by federal mediators and a 40-day walkout that was the nation's biggest white-collar strike.

And that was with Boeing's least-combative union.

Calhoun's task is no easier this time around. Despite massive layoffs, the Machinists union still represents more Boeing workers in the Puget Sound area than any other union — and it has gone on strike in two of its last four contract negotiations.

No wonder Calhoun admits to feeling pressure to avert labor strife this time around.

Jerry Calhoun Age: 58 Birthplace: Ludlow, Miss. His family moved to Seattle when he was 2. Boeing history: Hired by Boeing as a mechanic in 1964 while attending college.

"We've had a very rocky relationship with the unions, but it doesn't mean that it has to be," said Calhoun, whose serene demeanor is at odds with the image of a hard-bitten negotiator.

"I think we are kind of at an inflection point. If we can get through the next few years together," the union and Boeing can help ensure the company's economic vitality, Calhoun said.

Calhoun has spent more than 30 years in the field of human resources and labor relations. He twice left Boeing, once for a job at pharmaceutical giant Bristol-Myers in New York and the second for a seven-year federal stint during the Reagan administration.

In 1981, Calhoun was named the deputy assistant secretary for civilian personnel policy. Four years later, President Reagan nominated him chairman of the Federal Labor Relations Authority, responsible for labor-management relations for all federal employees.

He also has taught at the University of Washington Business School.

Last year, Calhoun turned down an offer to move to Boeing's new world headquarters in Chicago. Instead, he opted to stay and work for Alan Mulally, chief executive of Boeing's Renton-based commercial-airplanes unit.

Machinists union leaders know Calhoun as an articulate defender of the company's labor stances. So it is with disbelief that some of them greet the news that Calhoun once was one of them.

That was in 1964, when Calhoun was paying for college by working as a mechanic at Boeing's Plant 2 in South Seattle.

Despite his 36 years in white-collar positions, Calhoun never lost his affinity for tinkering with his hands. "I'm still a good assembly mechanic," he said.

Calhoun was born in 1943 in Ludlow, Miss. When he was 2, Calhoun's parents moved with their only child to subsidized housing in Seattle being settled by a small group of blacks who had been in the military.

Calhoun recalls being raised by "two wonderful parents" and socializing mostly with family and other African Americans.

A graduate of Garfield High School, he holds a bachelor's degree in political science and economics from Seattle University and a master's degree in business administration from the UW. He lives in Seattle's Central District.

Calhoun has an adult son and daughter. He is a pilot and a jazz aficionado who plays golf and tennis. Calhoun has been a widower since 1990, when his wife died of lymphoma. He hasn't remarried "because I haven't been lucky enough."

He views contract negotiations as zero-sum enterprises, with any significant gains won by management or labor usually coming at the expense of something else. He said it would be shortsighted for the Machinists union to try to capitalize on Boeing's perceived reluctance for a strike during tough times.

"Our business, in good times and in bad times, dictates a certain strategy," Calhoun said. "What we can do is give them the best offer we can."

And hope for contract ratification. Because coming right behind is Calhoun's next challenge: renegotiating the contract for the engineering and technical workers who struck three years ago.

Kyung M. Song can be reached at 206-464-2423 or ksong@seattletimes.com.