OAN Staff James Meyers
8:05 AM – Thursday, October 24, 2024
Boeing workers voted to reject the company’s latest contract proposal on Wednesday night that would’ve ended a strike that has lasted over 40 days.
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64% of workers voted to reject the new contract, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the union representing 33,000 Boeing workers in Washington, Oregon and California.
The newest contract proposal would have given workers a 35% raise over the four-year duration of the contract, increasing the previous 25% raise offered that was overwhelmingly rejected by workers in a vote last month. Workers were initially seeking a 40% cumulative pay increase.
Additionally, the proposal also called for increasing Boeing’s contribution to a 401(k) plan, but it declined to fulfill workers’ call for a reinstatement of the company’s defined pension. The contract would have also included a $7,000 ratification bonus for each worker, as well as a performance bonus that Boeing had looked to get rid of.
However, union leaders said the concessions offered in the proposal were not enough to meet the demands of rank-and-file union members.
“This contract struggle began over ten years ago when the company overreached and created a wound that may never heal for many members,” said Jon Holden, president of IAM District 751 in Seattle, in a statement after the vote. “I don’t have to tell you all how challenging it has been for our membership through the pandemic, the crashes, massive inflation, and the need to address the losses stemming from the 2014 contract.”
The union stated that the strike will continue as they continue to negotiate with the company.
The rejected proposal comes after Boeing released their earnings report on Wednesday revealing that the company had lost $6.1 billion over the recent quarter due primarily to costs associated with the strikes.
“We have some really big rocks that we need to get behind us to move the company forward,” Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a letter to investors on Wednesday.
Ortberg singled out the strike as an issue that must be addressed “first and foremost.”
“We have been feverishly working to find a solution that works for the company and meets our employees’ needs,” Ortberg said.
Meanwhile, union members have received $250 per week from a strike fund, beginning in the third week of the work stoppage.
Mid-ranking workers involved in the strike make close to $20 per hour, which totals $800 per 40-hour work week, as higher-paid members earn salaries upward of $100,000 per year, or almost $2,000 per week.
“The question is whether the employees and their union determine that they have the power to get more from Boeing,” Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, told ABC News. “It’s whether they think they can extract more from Boeing, or Boeing says, ‘You know what, this is it.’”
The strike was estimated to cost Boeing $108 million per day in lost revenue, which totals as much as $5.5 billion in losses should the strike last 50 days, according to financial experts.
As a result of the strike, Boeing announced furloughs and pay cuts in September for some of the white-collar employees.
Last week, Ortberg announced that the company will be cutting 17,000 jobs, which is about 10% of the workforce.
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