Boeing\u2019s factory workers walked off the job early Friday, halting production of the company\u2019s best-selling airplanes after staff overwhelmingly rejected a new labor contract.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a costly development for the manufacturer that has struggled to ramp up production and\u00a0restore its reputation\u00a0following safety crises.<\/p>\n
Workers in the Seattle area and in Oregon voted 94.6% against a\u00a0tentative agreement\u00a0that Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers unveiled Sunday. The workers voted 96% in favor of a strike, far more than the two-thirds vote required for a work stoppage.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe strike at midnight,\u201d said IAM District 751 President Jon Holden at a press conference where he announced the vote\u2019s results. He characterized it as an \u201cunfair labor practice strike,\u201d alleging that factory workers had experienced \u201cdiscriminatory conduct, coercive questioning, unlawful surveillance and we had unlawful promise of benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said Boeing needs to bargain in good faith.<\/p>\n
Boeing didn\u2019t comment on his claims.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe message was clear that the tentative agreement we reached with IAM leadership was not acceptable to the members,\u201d the company said in a statement. \u201cWe remain committed to resetting our relationship with our employees and the union, and we are ready to get back to the table to reach a new agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stephanie Pope, CEO of Boeing\u2019s commercial airplane unit, told machinists earlier this week the tentative deal was the \u201cbest contract we\u2019ve ever presented.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn past negotiations, the thinking was we should hold something back so we can ratify the contract on a second vote,\u201d she said. \u201cWe talked about that strategy this time, but we deliberately chose a new path.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tentative proposal included 25% wage increases and other improvements to health care and retirement benefits, though the union had sought raises of about 40%. Workers had complained about the agreement, saying that it didn\u2019t cover the increased cost of living.<\/p>\n
The vote is a blow to\u00a0CEO Kelly Ortberg, who has been in the top job for five weeks. A day before the vote, he had urged workers to accept the contract and not to strike, saying that it would jeopardize the company\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n
Under the tentative agreement, Boeing had promised to build its next commercial jet in the Seattle area, a bid to win over workers after the company moved the 787 Dreamliner production to a nonunion factory in South Carolina.<\/p>\n
The agreement, if approved, would have been the first fully negotiated contract for Boeing machinists in 16 years. Boeing workers went on strike in 2008 for nearly two months.<\/p>\n
The ultimate financial impact of this strike will depend on how long it lasts. Boeing shares fell 4% in premarket trading Friday.<\/p>\n
Jefferies aerospace analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu estimated a 30-day cash impact from a strike could be a $1.5 billion hit for Boeing and said it \u201ccould destabilize suppliers and supply chains.\u201d She forecast the tentative agreement would have had an annual impact of $900 million if passed.<\/p>\n
Boeing has burned through about $8 billion so far this year and has mounting debt. Production has fallen short of expectations as the company works to stamp out manufacturing flaws and faces other industry-wide problems such as supply and labor shortages.<\/p>\n
A blowout of a nearly new Boeing 737 Max 9 at the start of the year has brought additional federal scrutiny of Boeing\u2019s production lines.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Boeing\u2019s factory workers walked off the job early Friday, halting production of the company\u2019s best-selling airplanes after staff overwhelmingly rejected a new labor contract. It\u2019s a costly development for the manufacturer that has struggled to ramp up production and\u00a0restore its reputation\u00a0following safety crises. Workers in the Seattle area and in Oregon voted 94.6% against a\u00a0tentative […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":9578,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}