Members of the International Aerospace Machinists union march toward the union’s hall Thursday to vote on a contract offer with airplane maker Boeing in Renton, Wash. Workers overwhelmingly rejected the contract and 96% voted to authorize a strike.
Stephen Brashear/AP
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Stephen Brashear/AP
One of Boeing’s largest unions overwhelmingly voted Thursday to strike, rejecting a tentative contract offer from the company in dramatic fashion.
More than 30,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers are poised to strike as soon as their previous contract expires at midnight PT, hobbling airplane assembly at Boeing’s factories in the Seattle area. The work stoppages will also occur in Portland, Ore. and in southern California.
The machinists rejected the contract by 94% and 96% voted to strike.
On Sunday, the union’s bargaining unit announced it reached a tentative agreement with Boeing after months of negotiations. But it didn’t take long for union members to begin complaining the proposal was not good enough. IAM 751 Union president Jon Holden wrote to workers, “We recommended acceptance because we can’t guarantee we can achieve more in a strike.”
The deal would have raised wages by 25%, lowered employees’ share of health care costs, and boosted retirement contributions by the company. In addition, Boeing promised that the company’s next plane would be built at its facilities in the Pacific northwest — rather than at Boeing’s non-unionized plant in South Carolina. But many rank and file union members were unhappy with the offer, which fell short of the 40% raise and pension changes that the union was seeking.
The strike vote comes at a difficult time for Boeing, which is already grappling with a safety crisis after a door plug panel blew out of a 737 Max jet in midair in January. That forced the company to slow production of its best-selling plane as it works to shore up quality control across its factories and supply chain, and rebuild trust with airlines, regulators and the flying public.
Members of the International Aerospace Machinists count votes on a contract offer by airplane maker Boeing on Thursday in Seattle.
Stephen Brashear/AP
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Stephen Brashear/AP
Before the vote, new Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg urged workers to approve the contract. “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 said in a letter to employees in Washington and Oregon.
The last strike by Boeing machinists in 2008 dragged on for eight weeks, costing the company an estimated $2 billion.