New job for Machinists' Blondin

Mark Blondin, head of the 20,000-strong local Machinists union at Boeing for the past six years, is resigning to become aerospace coordinator for the national union, setting the scene for a contentious election to replace him as president of District 751.

Longtime dissident union members are already complaining that key Blondin lieutenants plan to anoint union grievance coordinator Tom Wroblewski as president by taking advantage of union election bylaws.

Blondin, 47, said it would be inappropriate to appear to influence the election and declined to comment on whom his successor might be.

In any case, Blondin isn't going away. In his new job, he'll oversee most Machinists commercial-aerospace contracts in North America and will take a lead negotiating role — bigger than his successor's — when the local Machinists contract with Boeing expires in 2008.

"I'll be there leading the negotiations," Blondin said in an interview. "I'll make sure the new president has a very active role."

Replacing International Association of Machinists (IAM) veteran Dick Schneider, who is retiring, Blondin will oversee contracts in the U.S. and Canada.

Those cover not only Boeing workers but also Machinists at former Boeing units such as Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kan., GKN in St. Louis and Triumph in Spokane.

"It's a great opportunity to help other locals and share the successes of this local around the country," Blondin said.

He announced his job change to union members earlier this month at a District 751 council meeting. The election process to replace him begins Feb. 13, when the district council meets to accept nominations.

The union has a long history of bitterly fought elections. Its bylaws dictate that only members of the district council, a narrow slice of the membership, can be candidates for district president or other offices.

But dissident Don Grinde, who ran for the presidency in the early 1990s, said the union establishment plans to take advantage of that restriction by having one council member resign and appointing their own favored presidential candidate to the empty position.

That's what happened, Grinde said, when Sue Palmer replaced Bruce Spalding as the district's secretary treasurer. In January 2006, Palmer was appointed to fill a council opening and soon after was unanimously elected secretary-treasurer.

According to Grinde and fellow dissident David Clay, who failed in his own bid to get a district council seat to run against Blondin in 2000, this time the favored candidate for Blondin's job is Wroblewski.

"That's the word on the street and among the stewards," said Grinde.

During a normal union election cycle, council elections would precede the presidential election, giving anyone in the union a chance to run. Both Grinde and Clay are upset that because this election will be out of the usual schedule, due to Blondin's resignation, it will be closed to anyone outside the council.

"This whole thing is rigged," said Clay. "The business reps are out there right now campaigning for Tom Wroblewski."

Wroblewski could not be reached for comment Monday evening.

Blondin said the rules in place will be followed. "If [Wroblewski's] local lodge president appointed him to the council, yes, he would be eligible," he said.

But Blondin refused to be drawn on which candidates are likely to run. "It would be inappropriate for me to name favorites," he said. "Let the election take care of itself. I'll work with whoever wins."

According to the latest federal filings, Blondin earned more than $129,000 as district president in 2005.

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com