Boeing strike: 33,000 factory workers walk off job over pay

SEATTLE (Reuters) – Aircraft assembly workers went on strike on Friday at Boeing Co. plants in Washington, Oregon and California after union members demanded an end to the walkout. overwhelmingly rejected An initial contract would increase wages by 25% over four years.

The work stoppage involving 33,000 machinists will not immediately disrupt commercial flights but is expected to halt production of Boeing’s best-selling planes, another setback for a company already dealing with damage. reputation and Financial losses.

Boeing shares fell 2.2% in morning trading, bringing its year-to-date loss to 38.9%.

The strike began less than three hours after the regional branch of the International Association of Machinists and Aviation Workers announced that 94.6 percent of voting workers rejected their negotiating committee’s recommendation to approve the proposal. a contract 96% of them supported withdrawing from work.

Shortly after midnight, workers stood outside a Boeing factory in Renton, Washington, holding signs that read “Historic Decade, My Ass” and “Have You Seen These Damn Housing Prices?” Car horns blared, and radios played songs like “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by the Twisted Sisters and “Look What You Made Me Do” by Taylor Swift.

Several workers expressed dismay at the company’s recent decision to change the criteria by which annual bonuses are paid. Several said they considered the pay offer inadequate given the high cost of living in the Pacific Northwest. Toolmaker John Olson, 45, said he had received a 2 percent raise in his six years at Boeing.

“The last contract we negotiated was 16 years ago, and the company is basing wage increases on wages from 16 years ago, and they don’t even keep up with the cost of inflation that’s happening now,” Olson said.

Machinists’ average wages are $75,608 a year, not including overtime, and that would have risen to $106,350 by the end of the proposed four-year contract, according to Boeing.

But the offer fell short of the union’s initial demand for a 40 percent pay raise over three years. The union also wanted to restore traditional pensions that were eliminated a decade ago, but settled on Boeing’s new contributions to employees’ retirement accounts to increase by up to $4,160 per worker.

Under the rejected contract, workers would also have received a $3,000 lump sum payment and a reduced share of health care costs. In addition, Boeing met a key union demand by agreeing to build its next new plane in Washington state.

The union’s local president, AFA District 751 President John Holden, said the union will survey members to determine what issues they want to focus on when negotiations resume. Boeing responded to the strike announcement by saying it was “prepared to return to the negotiating table to reach a new agreement.”

“The message was clear that the tentative agreement we reached with IAM leadership was not acceptable to members,” the company said in a statement. “We remain committed to resetting our relationship with our employees and unions.”

Not much good has happened for Boeing. this yearfrom A explode board And left a large hole in one of its passenger planes in January for NASA. Two astronauts left in space Instead of sending them home on a troubled Boeing spacecraft.

Striking machine workers gather 737 maxThe 777 is Boeing’s best-selling aircraft, along with the 777 jet and the 767 freighter. The strike is unlikely to halt production of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, which is built by non-union workers. workers in south carolina.

As long as the strike continues, it will deprive the company of much-needed cash to deliver new planes to airlines, and that will be another challenge for Boeing’s new CEO. Kelly Ortbergwho was tasked six weeks ago with turning around a company that has lost more than $25 billion in the past six years and has fallen behind European rival Airbus.

Union leader Holden said Ortberg faced a tough situation because machinists were bitter about stagnant wages and concessions they had made since 2008 on pensions and health care to keep the company from moving jobs elsewhere.

“This is about respect, this is about the past, and this is about fighting for our future,” Holden said in announcing the strike.

Depending on the duration of the strike, halting aircraft production could be costly for the beleaguered Boeing. Strike in 2008The strike, Boeing’s longest since a 10-week strike in 1995, is costing the company about $100 million a day in deferred revenue.

Before the tentative agreement was announced on Sunday, Jefferies aviation analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu estimated the strike would cost the company about $3 billion based on the 2008 strike plus inflation and current aircraft production rates.