30,000 Boeing Workers Go on Strike – Negotiations Upcoming

More than 30,000 aerospace workers at Boeing will strike starting Friday after an overwhelming majority rejected a tentative contract. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) announced this on their website late Thursday evening, following the vote count. The union stated that its negotiating team will regroup and plan the next steps to achieve an agreement that the workforce can approve. Despite initial satisfaction, union members immediately expressed dissatisfaction with the agreement reached by union leaders and Boeing on Sunday. On Monday, workers gathered in front of Boeing’s wide-body aircraft plant in Everett, Washington. A primary point of contention is the salary. Boeing is offering a 25% pay increase over four years, but union members criticize that this does not include the current yearly bonus. Additionally, while more funds will be allocated to the 401K retirement plan, the pension plans previously negotiated will not be reinstated. The collective bargaining agreement would reduce mandatory overtime and introduce a flexible vacation day. However, the dissatisfaction runs deeper. Workers are complaining about the amount of the pay increase, the absence of pension reinstatement, and Boeing’s time-limited commitment to building a future aircraft model in the Puget Sound region. A latent loss of trust from previous negotiations, during which Boeing twice threatened to pull jobs from Washington, persists. Should the strike last longer, the delivery of aircraft and components would be halted, exacerbating current delivery delays and hindering airlines' modernization plans. The strike hits Boeing at a challenging time. The company has faced losses in recent years due to regulatory restrictions following a series of accidents and production issues. However, some analysts see a production interruption as less critical at the moment since airlines are currently less in need of new aircraft due to a decline in travel demand. A 10-week strike in 1995 cost Boeing $100 million per day. Since 2019, the company has lost a total of $27 billion. FedEx pilots also rejected a union-negotiated agreement in the summer of 2023, thereby losing negotiating leverage. The weakening air freight market and diminishing pilot shortage reduced the pressure on FedEx to increase compensation beyond targeted goals. Boeing's new CEO, Robert 'Kelly' Ortberg, has been in office for just over a month.