The announcement of the Defense Department selecting the Boeing 767 version for a new Air Force refueling tanker is another sign that Boeing’s future projects and deliveries are once again looking positive.

Not surprisingly, Boeing employees are feeling secure in knowing they have jobs and good pay and benefits for many years to come – a luxury not enjoyed by all Americans.

However, next year will be a pivotal year for all involved as both the IAM (mechanics) and SPEEA (engineers) contracts are up for renewal in the fall of 2012.

Ever since unionization was signed into law in 1935 with the National Labor Relations Act, generation after generation has fought for worker’s rights and a fair wage. Their contracts are like a pyramid, with gains over time building a solid foundation as the result of many personal sacrifices. But today, unions across the nation are being challenged to defend their worth.  Unions have the strength and bonds of a family. It’s understandable they are fighting for their existence with such passion.

In these hard economic times, however, many question if society can afford these “brotherhoods” who currently make up 11.9 percent of the American workforce. Many in unions don’t fully understand that their wages, their benefits, and their seniority are far more than what the average worker experiences.

Boeing has plenty of work and commitments to honor for many years to come.  Their backlog at the end of February was 3,399 planes. Hopefully, the 787 program will start making deliveries this year as soon as FAA certification is reached. The new 747-8 Intercontinental is in flight test with certification and deliveries to begin in late 2011. The first stage of the tanker program will be engineer-driven with production scheduled for 2015 and first delivery in 2017. The ever-popular 737 is ramping up to 35 planes per month.  Add to all of this, Boeing is leaning toward building a successor to its best-selling 737.

This is the portfolio Boeing will bring to the negotiating table. The unions may find themselves in a position of having to make concessions in exchange for job security.

But will job security temper the union’s demands and pyramid building?  If not, will Boeing say the unions have finally reached their peaks and begin looking elsewhere for their labor force?

Adding fuel to the negotiations is the national trend to start chipping away at the foundations of unions. By this time next year, we will have a little more information on how this will all play out. Although most of the controversy at this time is directed at the public-sector union jobs, everyone will be watching to see how it spills over into the private sector.

Also, by this time next year, Boeing will have a better understanding on how successful assembling 787s in South Carolina by non-union workers is working with its new final assembly and delivery center scheduled to open this July.

Finally, recent comments by Boeing management have indicated that they are willing to consider bringing more of the outsourced work back in house. But who’s house and where? Just how much of the mortgage will the union workers have to pay to have it in their house?

It will be interesting to watch in the months and year ahead as a company and its unions try to refuel new contracts. These will probably be the most important negotiations between the two in the history of the company and it’s likely a new-generation of Boeing will emerge.

Tish Gregory is a free-lance writer. You can reach her tishgregory@aol.com.