Boeing workers voted Wednesday to extend a nearly six-week work stoppage after rejecting a proposed contract deal from the company. The latest move comes just hours after the aerospace giant released a report showing a loss of millions of dollars primarily due to the strike.
What did the new contract offer Boeing workers?
The New York Times reported that 64% of workers voted to reject the new contract, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the union with about 33,000 Boeing employees in major cities nationwide. The number of employees who voted against the new proposal has yet to be revealed.
The proposed contract would have given workers cumulative raises totaling nearly 40% over four years, an increase from the initial 25% raise in the first proposal and close to the worker’s original demands. Additionally, the deal included a one-time $7,000 bonus, revised retirement plans and an incentive bonus program that the first rejected deal would have replaced, per the Times.
Jon Holden, president of the union’s District 751, representing most union workers and leading the Seattle headquarters, is prepared to return to the table to discuss how the company can meet employees’ needs.
“This contract struggle began over ten years ago when the company overreached and created a wound that may never heal for many members,” Holden said in a statement obtained by ABC News. “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.”
Boeing suffered a significant financial loss since the work strike
Boeing released an earnings report revealing that the company lost around $6.1 million over the most recent quarter due to the work stoppage. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg stated they need to find a way to get the company back on track following its financial woes.
“We have some really big rocks that we need to get behind us to move the company forward,” ABC News reported Ortberg said in a letter to investors on Wednesday.
Ortberg expressed his desire to stabilize the company while ensuring employee satisfaction.
“We have been feverishly working to find a solution that works for the company and meets our employees’ needs,” Ortberg added.
Workers have also faced financial struggles due to the strike
Union workers have only received around $250 a week from a union fund, substantially different from what some workers typically make weekly.
“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.'”
Blavity reported that the first Boeing strike happened on Sept. 13, when workers walked off the job to demand higher pay and better health and retirement benefits. They also rejected the first proposed contract to end the strike, stating that the offer was insufficient to meet their needs.
“The message was clear that the tentative agreement we reached with IAM leadership was not acceptable to the members,” the company said at the time in a statement obtained by CNBC. “We 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.”
