Boeing workers voted on Thursday night to strike for higher pay, halting production of the planemaker’s strongest-selling jet as it wrestles with chronic output delays and mounting debt.
Newly installed Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg pleaded with workers not to go on strike – the first since 2008 – ahead of the vote, saying the action would put the company’s “recovery in jeopardy”.
Around 33,000 workers in Boeing’s US Pacific north-west region voted down a tentative agreement reached between their union and the company and in favor of a strike beginning on Friday at midnight Pacific time (7am GMT).
Boeing workers voted 94.6% to reject the agreement, and 96% in favor of striking.
Breaking: unionized Boeing workers have approved a strike. IAM 751 says 33,000+ workers in Washington will stop work at midnight. People here say the pay & benefits in the company’s latest offer isn’t enough to live on. pic.twitter.com/9VI0jPdmoJ
— Casey Martin (@caseyworks) September 13, 2024
Earlier, a tentative agreement had been reached between the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and Boeing on 8 September after marathon bargaining sessions over the weekend, ahead of the contract expiration on Thursday. The agreement included 25% pay increases over the four-year contract, short of the 40% increase pushed by the union.
Union leadership recommended ratification but local union president Jon Holden told the Seattle Times he expected members to reject the agreement given the overwhelming negative response to it.
“Boeing is saying they are in a tough spot recovering yet their executive salaries haven’t changed. COO [chief operating officer] Stephanie Pope makes over $300,000 every two weeks,” said a Boeing mechanic who requested to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. They voted down the contract in favor of going on strike. “It is much deeper than pay and benefits. It is Boeing’s culture. We are a family here in my shop.”
Workers held a rally protesting against the tentative agreement outside Boeing’s production facility in Everett, Washington, earlier this week. Boeing has spent $68bn on stock buybacks and dividends since 2010.
The company has been mired in scandal but has still paid huge salaries to top executives. Outgoing CEO Dave Calhoun received a 45% increase in 2023, to nearly $33m in 2023. Their ousted former CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, left with a golden parachute of $62m.
Ahead of the vote, Boeing pleaded with workers to approve the tentative agreement and not go on strike.
“I know the reaction to our tentative agreement with the IAM has been passionate. I understand and respect that passion, but I ask you not to sacrifice the opportunity to secure our future together, because of the frustrations of the past,” wrote Ortberg in a message to Boeing employees in Washington and Oregon.
“For Boeing, it is no secret that our business is in a difficult period, in part due to our own mistakes in the past. Working together, I know that we can get back on track, but a strike would put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers and hurting our ability to determine our future together.”