AFP – Negotiators from Boeing and the machinists union resumed talks yesterday after some 33,000 workers went on strike late last week.
Members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and Aerospace Workers District 751 have been picketing 24 hours a day following the walkout early on Friday morning, shuttering Seattle-area factories that assemble the 737 MAX and 777.
“Now is the moment to rise – show Boeing that our voices aren’t just loud; they are unstoppable,” the IAM said over the weekend. “We are stronger than ever before, and we won’t back down.”
The IAM, which has touted support from peer unions and from political figures, began surveying the members to rank their priorities as the negotiations enter the next phase.
Meanwhile, Boeing announced on Monday a hiring freeze and cutbacks in supplier expenditures and cautioned that it was considering staff furloughs.
“Our business is in a difficult period,” Chief Financial Officer Brian West said in a memo to staff.
“We must take necessary actions to preserve cash and safeguard our shared future. “
West told an investor conference on Friday that the company was eager to get back to the bargaining table and “hammer out a deal”.
The talks, which will be assisted by federal mediators, aim to speed a resolution to Boeing’s first strike since 2008 at a time when the aviation giant has been losing money and faces scrutiny from regulators and customers after safety incidents.
Boeing had been hopeful about averting a strike after reaching a preliminary deal with IAM leadership on September 8 that included a 25-per-cent general wage increase over four years, reduced mandatory overtime and a pledge to build the next new airplane in the Puget Sound.
But rank-and-file workers blasted the deal as insufficient, dismissing the 25 per cent figure as misleading and inadequate in light of the agreement’s elimination of an annual bonus for workers.
Workers also were displeased with other elements of the agreement, including a pension issue. And they said the pledge on the new airplane needed to be strengthened beyond the four-year lifespan of the contract.
