Talks between Boeing and striking US factory workers are due to resume early next week under a federal mediator, the government said Friday, after workers voted overwhelmingly to reject an earlier proposal from the embattled aviation giant.
\nThousands of Boeing factory workers in the United States walked off the job Friday over the pay dispute, its first strike in 16 years.
\nUnion leaders called for the strike to start just after midnight, shortly after hourly workers in the Seattle region in the Pacific Northwest spurned the tentative contract with 94.6 percent of the vote, and to strike with 96 percent.
\nThe strike shuttered two major plane assembly plants for the 737 MAX and 777 in the Puget Sound region and sidelines some 33,000 workers, further delaying the financially stressed company\u2019s turnaround efforts. \u201cWe sent an overwhelmingly large message to Boeing that they cannot continue to treat us this poorly,\u201d Mike Corsetti, who has worked at Boeing for 15 years, told AFP Friday afternoon as he picketed in front of the Everett factory.
\nThursday\u2019s vote was a decisive rejection of a deal line workers said was far less generous than depicted by Boeing executives, marking the latest show of defiance by unions following earlier major strikes in the auto and entertainment industries.
\nBoeing, led by new CEO Kelly Ortberg, had hoped a 25-percent wage hike over four years and a commitment to invest in the Puget Sound region would be enough.
\nBut rank-and-file workers described it as a slap in the face after more than a decade of nearly stagnant wages.
\nLate on Friday, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) said it had been in contact with both parties and supported their return to the negotiating table.
\n\u201cAs part of the effort to resolve the current labor dispute and end the work stoppage, which began at 12:01 am PDT this morning, the parties will resume meetings early next week,\u201d said a FMCS statement.Workers had sought a 40-percent wage hike and critics have said the 25-percent figure is inflated because the new deal also eliminates an annual company bonus.
\nOther points of contention include the deal\u2019s failure to restore a pension, as well as Boeing\u2019s pledge to build its next plane in the Seattle region, which critics said offers no promises beyond the four-year contract.
\nSome workers expressed anger about the compensation packages offered to Dennis Muilenburg and Dave Calhoun, two former CEOs who received multi-million dollar pay-offs even as the company faced turmoil.
\nBoeing Chief Financial Officer Brian West said Friday that the company had put \u201cour best foot forward\u201d and felt confident in the deal after it was endorsed by union leadership.
\nBut Boeing leadership quickly understood that the offer \u201cdidn\u2019t meet the mark and was not acceptable\u201d to the rank-and-file, West said at a financial conference.
\n\u201cWe want to get back to the table and we want to reach an agreement that\u2019s good for our people, their families, our community,\u201d he added. Corsetti, 51, said he was not impressed with Boeing\u2019s conciliatory posture.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s all talk until they actually come up with a real offer,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat they considered their final offer should have been the starting point, not the final point.\u201d
\nThe most recent stoppage by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), in 2008, lasted 57 days. According to analysts at TD Cowen, a 50-day strike would deprive Boeing of between $3 billion and $3.5 billion in cash flow, and would have a $5.5 billion impact on revenue.
\nRichard Aboulafia, managing director of the AeroDynamic Advisory consultancy, said a lengthy strike would damage Boeing\u2019s turnaround prospects, but noted that a 2023 strike at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems lasted less than two weeks.
\nLabor historian Nelson Lichtenstein predicted a \u201crelatively shorter\u201d strike at Boeing compared with past stoppages as the company faces pressure from Wall Street to improve its quality control enough to boost production and return to profitability.
\n\u201cThe quality question is totally linked to the frozen wages and lost institutional memory\u201d due to staff turnover, said Lichtenstein, who teaches at the University of California at Santa Barbara.
\nTo win a deal, Boeing will need to increase pay and augment a pledge to build the next airplane in the Seattle region to ensure that it is good beyond the four-year life of the contract, Lichtenstein said. Boeing was the biggest loser on the Dow index on Friday, slumping 3.7 percent.- Qatar Tribune<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Talks between Boeing and striking US factory workers are due to resume early next week under a federal mediator, the government said Friday, after workers voted overwhelmingly to reject an earlier proposal from the embattled aviation giant. Thousands of Boeing factory workers in the United States walked off the job Friday over the pay dispute, …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17284,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"","_threads_share_type":"","_google_business_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":null,"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[96,98,102],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world","category-companies","category-featured-en"],"yoast_head":"\n