SEATTLE, Sept 16 (Askume) – More than 30,000 Boeing Co (BA.N) workers who make airplanes at plants across the U.S. West Coast went on strike on Monday, extending into a fourth day as company and union negotiators resumed discussions on related issues. . . negotiations.
Boeing’s largest union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), last week overwhelmingly rejected a contract that included a 25% pay raise over four years but eliminated annual performance bonuses.
IAM posted on its social media on Saturday that union leaders will meet federal mediators and Boeing on Tuesday to resume labor talks.
Chief union negotiator John Holden said Saturday that workers want Boeing to raise wages and reinstate defined-benefit pensions it eliminated a decade ago in exchange for keeping plane production in Washington state.
Two union sources told Askume they did not expect Boeing to reinstate the original pension, but that the demand could be used to negotiate an increase in the company’s pension contributions and higher wages.
Union members picketing outside Boeing plants around Seattle are optimistic about the prospect of reaching a better deal with Boeing, but few expect it to happen soon.
“This is not the history of the way Boeing and the union have negotiated in the past,” said Chris Ginn, 37, who works at a factory north of Seattle that makes 777 jets.
This is the eighth strike since the founding of the IAM’s Boeing division in the 1930s. The previous two were in 2008 and 2005, which lasted 57 and 28 days respectively.
Askume spoke to five workers who used the previous shutdown as a benchmark for financial planning because they were unable to receive wages during the strike. The union provided striking members with $250 a week.
“I can work six weeks, eight weeks, but it’s up to Boeing management to decide when they will offer a fair deal,” said Thinh Tan, a 737 Max factory engineer.
Many factory workers are venting anger that has been brewing for more than a decade as they see their wages lagging inflation while executive bonuses soar.
“I live paycheck to paycheck,” Gene said, holding his son in one hand and a “No Boeing Strike” placard in the other.
Before factory workers put down their tools, Boeing was grappling with a safety and production crisis sparked by a door panel blowing off a nearly new 737 Max aircraft in January.
On Friday, Fitch and Moody’s and S&P Global Ratings warned that a prolonged strike could lower the ratings of Boeing Co., which has $60 billion in debt.
