Workers picket outside a Boeing Company facility during a strike on Monday, September 16, 2024, in Everett, Washington, United States. Boeing factory workers have quit their jobs for the first time in 16 years, halting production across the plane maker’s Seattle area. The hub comes after members of its largest union overwhelmingly rejected the contract offer and went on strike.
M. Scott Braugher | Bloomberg | Getty Images
boeing It withdrew its contract offer to the 33,000 machinists who have been on strike since mid-September, saying further negotiations were “currently pointless”.
Machinists walked off the job on September 13 after overwhelmingly rejecting the temporary labor agreement, halting production of most Boeing aircraft manufactured in the Puget Sound region. Boeing later pandered to the offer with increased pay raises, ratification bonuses and other improvements, but the union rejected the offer, arguing that a deal was not done.
Negotiations broke down again this week, and the strike will continue. S&P Global Ratings on Tuesday issued a negative outlook on the aerospace giant’s credit rating and said Boeing’s shutdown would result in losses of more than $1 billion per month.
Stephanie Pope, CEO of Boeing’s commercial aircraft division, said the company improved the contract in negotiations this week, but the union has not considered the offer.
“Instead, the union has made non-negotiable demands that go far beyond what we can accept in order to remain competitive as a company,” Pope said in a staff note.
The International Federation of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, a labor union, announced Tuesday that Boeing has refused to improve wages, retirement plans, vacation and sick leave.