Workers at Boeing’s commercial division in the United States overwhelmingly voted (94.6%) on September 12 to reject a tentative collective agreement and take strike action.
The walkout began the next day. About 33,000 workers hit the streets at its unionised production plants in Washington, Oregon and California.
Union negotiators had recommended approval of the agreement, but quickly changed course to organise the strike after its rejection.
The two largest factories are in Washington state. Both are unionised, represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAMAW), District 751. These facilities are where most of its well-known aircraft are assembled.
A third, non-union production facility in South Carolina continues to build the 787 Dreamliner.
The workers rejected a deal that would have raised pay and benefits, but by far less than they demanded.
Union members said they had no choice but to strike. Boeing earns billions in profits through its huge commercial and military divisions.
The union’s previous strike at Boeing, in 2008, lasted about two months.
Rising anger
A key issue is the loss of bonuses and pensions, as well as the cost-of-living adjustments. Workers are losing real wages due to inflation.
Davon Smith, 37, for example, earns less than $28 an hour attaching the wings to Boeing 777X planes, which sell for more than $400 million each. Like many Boeing workers, he has a second job to make ends meet.
“Every time we make a plane to their spec, we pretty much put our life on the line. Because if anything goes wrong — like if a torque’s out of spec or something like that — and potentially the plane goes down, we obviously get [jail] time for that,” he told one reporter.
The tentative deal that union leaders and Boeing had agreed on would have delivered a 25% percent pay rise over four years, but no catch-up pay for previous concessions and takebacks.
It also offered modest improvements in healthcare and retirement benefits, 12 weeks of paid parental leave and would have given union members more say on safety and quality issues.
But the union had initially aimed for a 40% wage rise and other catchups.
Union members are particularly angry about the benefits they lost during contract negotiations years ago — especially their guaranteed pension payouts (defined benefits) in retirement, no matter the ups and downs of the stock market.
Now, Boeing — like most Fortune 500 companies — contributes to worker investment accounts known as 401(k)s, in place of pension funds, where their value is subject to the strength of the stock market.
Low wages make it hard for workers to contribute to their 401(k)s at a level where they can save for a pension. The end of defined benefit pensions has saved corporations billions of dollars.
“They took away our pensions, they took away our bonuses that people rely on,” said Mari Baker, 61. Baker started at Boeing in 1996 and works as a kitter, overseeing the tools used at factories.
She called the rejected deal a “slap in the face”, but is worried about losing her health insurance at the end of the month if the strike continues and being able to afford her medication.
Before the strike, the company was already facing deepening financial losses and struggling to repair its reputation after a series of safety issues. Recently a Boeing spaceship stranded two astronauts on the International Space Station. (It will be eight months before its competitor SpaceX can return the astronauts to Earth.)
It is estimated that the strike, in its first week, has cost Boeing workers and suppliers more than $100 million in lost wages and shareholders more than $440 million.
So far, Boeing’s military production on its Air Force KC-46 tanker and Navy P-8 maritime aircraft continues — although that could also be hurt over time, due to the disruptions to production.
Nothing to lose
Workers on the picket line dismiss the threat to the company, saying they have little to lose.
“This past year working here I couldn’t afford to pay my mortgage,” said aerospace mechanic Kerri Foster, 47. Foster joined Boeing last year after leaving her previous career as a nurse.
Marc Cisneros, 29, said he is striking “because for the amount of work I do and the quality that I produce, it seems unfair that I’m unable to afford my rent”.
The union is in it for the long haul and the IAMAW District 751 has issued debit cards to members. After the strike goes into its third week, workers will receive $250 a week, which will be deposited onto the card.
President Joe Biden’s “pro-union” administration is reluctant to settle the dispute or stop the strike in an election year. A federal mediator is involved in negotiations and, unless Congress and the president declare a national emergency, the strike cannot be stopped until a new contract is reached.
US labour law dictates when and how unions go on strike. The IAMAW has followed those rules, and the strike is expected to continue until a fair contract is won.