Thousands of Boeing workers went on strike on Friday after overwhelmingly rejecting a contract their union negotiated, a potentially costly disruption to the aerospace giant as they try to recover from a series of safety crises.
The strike, the first at Boeing in 16 years, brings operations to a halt in the Seattle area of Washington State, USA, home to most of Boeing’s commercial plane manufacturing. The slowdown is also expected to disrupt the company’s supply chain.
Workers rejected the contract with a vote of 94.6 percent and to strike with 96 percent, said Jon Holden, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751. The dispute also involves workers in the Portland, Oregon area who are represented by the union’s smaller District W24. [FYI, the union represent about a fifth of the company’s more than 170,000 employees worldwide].
“Our members spoke loud and clear tonight”, said Holden, who represents the workers in the Pacific Northwest. The strike shutters two major plane assembly plants in the Puget Sound region – one in Renton, where they make the 737 Max, and another in Everett, where they make the 767 and 777 – and sideline some 33,000 workers.
The vote marks a decisive rejection of a deal that line workers said was far less generous than depicted by Boeing executives, marking the latest show of defiance by unions following earlier walkouts by autoworkers, screenwriters and actors.
Ortberg argued in a message to staff that the general wage hike marked the largest in history and that a strike “would put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers and hurting our ability to determine our future together”.
Ortberg, who joined Boeing last month, has sought to reset the company’s relationship with their workers and met with employees in the Seattle area this week to hear their thoughts about the deal. Other pressing issues include improving quality and safety, restoring the company’s reputation, fixing their relationship with regulators and improving their financial position, which includes reducing their nearly $60 billion in debt.
The ratings firm Moody’s said on Friday that they were reviewing Boeing for a downgrade in light of the potential impact of the strike. The plane maker’s rating is currently just one rung above the “junk” speculative grade.
Anyway, rank-and-file workers reacted with fury to the agreement, which was initially backed by IAM leadership.
Workers had sought a 40 percent wage hike and critics have said the 25 percent figure is inflated because the new deal also eliminates an annual company bonus. Other points of contention include the deal’s failure to restore a pension, as well as a Boeing pledge to build their next plane in the Seattle region, which critics view as a “hollow” commitment to the region because they offer no promises beyond the four-year contract.
“They’re talking about a 25 percent increase and it’s not”, said Paul Janousek, who voted to strike after concluding Boeing’s spin was “misleading”. The 55-year-old electrician in Everett, who has worked at Boeing for 13 years, figures his raise is only about nine percent after Boeing dropped the annual bonus.
“Striking isn’t ideal, but it’s for the best for your long-term well being”, said Joe Philbin, a structural mechanic who has been at Boeing for six months. “(Boeing are) a huge company, they can survive paying the people who do the work a little more”.
Richard Aboulafia, managing director of the AeroDynamic Advisory consultancy, said a lengthy strike would damage Boeing’s turnaround prospects, but noted that a 2023 strike at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems lasted less than two weeks.
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