33,000 Boeing machinists go on strike
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Sunday, September 15, 2024
Image: The People's Dispatch.
Friday morning 33,000 Boeing workers joined picket lines in Renton, Washington after walking out a day after rejecting Boeing's offer and voting to strike. These workers, District 751 of the International Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union, build the 737 MAX planes. Losing production of their flagship plane threatens Boeing's bottom line.
“If we have any power to show the world that Boeing is continuing to make bad decisions, it would be now," said Alex Mutch, a quality inspector interviewed by the Washington Post.
Boeing's offer included a 25% wage increase over 4 years -- an amount, the workers say, doesn't cover the cost of living. According to Boeing, this wage increase would have the machinists at $106,350 by the end of that 4 years. The workers said they would remain on strike until a deal closer to a 40% wage increase is offered by Boeing.
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Image: U.S. Department of the Treasury.
“The last contract we negotiated was 16 years ago, and the company is basing the wage increases off of wages from 16 years ago,” John Olson, a 45-year-old toolmaker said to The Associated Press. “They don’t even keep up with the cost of inflation.”
The last negotiation in 2008 left workers without their pensions, a concession by the workers to keep Boeing's production in Washington. Boeing's Chief Financial Officer Brian West said on Friday the company is now looking at ways to conserve cash. The company has $60 billion in debt.
“We’ve got a lot of leverage — why waste that?” said Joe Philbin, a structures mechanic who voted on Thursday.
CEO Kelly Ortberg told machinists on Wednesday that "no one wins" in a walkout and "a strike would put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers and hurting our ability to determine our future together.”
Friday's strike and Ortberg's comments come after Boeing's Starliner capsule left astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams stranded in space. Boeing, having used over half its $4.5 billion contracted budget with NASA's Commercial Crew Program since 2014, still remains uncertified.
Sources
[edit]- Lauren Kaori Gurley and Rachel Lerman. "Boeing machinists: Strike is a now-or-never moment" — The Washington Post, September 14, 2024
- David Koenig, Manuel Valdes and Lindsey Wasson. "Striking Boeing workers say company's offer doesn't keep pace with cost of living" — The Associated Press, September 14, 2024
- Joey Roulette. "Astronauts' plight piles pressure on Boeing's struggling space unit" — Reuters, August 26, 2024