Boeing employees head to polls to vote on contract approval or strike

Record ID: 1841563

  • Title: Boeing employees head to polls to vote on contract approval or strike
  • Date: 12th September 2024
  • Summary: RENTON, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES (SEPTEMBER 12, 2024)(REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BOEING EMPLOYEES MARCHING ALONG SIDEWALK NEAR UNION HALL BOEING EMPLOYEES STANDING IN LINE OUTSIDE UNION HALL WAITING TO CAST VOTE (SOUNDBITE)(English) BOEING FABRICATION DIVISION EMPLOYEE, JACQUELINE VADEN, OUTSIDE UNION HALL, SAYING: "Oh, yes. I'm ready. I'm ready. I've been preparing for this for
  • Embargoed: 26th September 2024 22:12
  • Keywords: BOEING BOEING STRIKE VOTE
  • Location: RENTON, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES
  • City: RENTON, WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES
  • Country: US
  • Topics: Company News Markets,Economic Events,North America
  • Reuters ID: LVA001373412092024RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Boeing's U.S. West Coast factory workers stood in long lines to vote on Thursday (September 12) on a much-criticized new contract, some loudly calling for a strike, piling pressure on the planemaker as it wrestles with chronic production delays and mounting debt.
    A potential strike could start on Friday (September 13), which would be a big early blow to new CEO Kelly Ortberg, brought on last month to restore faith in the planemaker after a door panel blew off a near-new 737 MAX jet in mid-air in January.
    "I'm ready. I've been preparing for this for a while. I honestly don't think we're going to be out that long." said Jacqueline Vaden, a fabrication employee at the company's Everett production facility, after casting her vote at the union hall in Renton, a suburb of Seattle. "It's not a win-win for nobody when you go out on strike, but you got to do what you got to do."
    Roughly 30,000 workers who produce Boeing's 737 MAX, 767 and 777 jets in the Seattle and Portland areas are voting on their first full contract in 16 years.
    "We have to fight. If we won't fight, we won't get nothing." said Jorge Donis, a mechanic at the Renton production facility. "It's sad that this the only way that we can fight for what we want."
    Polling will close at 6 p.m. PT and the result will be announced this evening, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said. If a strike is sanctioned, it could start at midnight.
    The proposed deal includes a general wage increase of 25%, a $3,000 signing bonus and a pledge to build Boeing's next commercial jet in the Seattle area, provided the program is launched within the four years of the contract.
    Although the IAM leadership recommended its members accept the deal on Sunday (September 8), some workers have responded angrily, with many arguing for the originally demanded 40% pay rise and lamenting the loss of an annual bonus.
    On Thursday, a line of workers waiting to vote snaked along the street outside the union’s offices in Renton, the Seattle suburb where Boeing makes its best-selling 737 jet. Some held signs and others chanted “strike”. All of several Boeing workers who spoke to Reuters said they were voting to strike, and were confident the bulk of union members would do the same, although more than 20 declined to say what they planned.
    Under complicated union rules, two thirds must vote in favor of a strike for the action to begin. With anything less than that, the contract will go into effect.
    (Production: Matt M. McKnight)
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