Boeing workers vote overwhelmingly to strike, halting aircraft production

Twoafros@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 720 points – Boeing workers go on strike in fresh blow to troubled aircraft giant
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The article:

Boeing’s roughly 33,000 factory workers on the West Coast of the United States have voted overwhelmingly to strike in the latest blow for the beleaguered aircraft giant.

Machinists at the company’s factories in Seattle and Portland, Oregon on Thursday voted to walk off the job from midnight after rejecting management’s latest offer for better pay and conditions.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said that 94.6 percent of its members voted to reject the contract and 96 percent backed a strike.

Boeing’s offer would have raised pay by 25 percent over four years, reduced workers’ share of healthcare costs and increased the company’s retirement contributions.

The aircraft maker’s offer also included a commitment to build its next aircraft at its facilities in greater Seattle after the company angered union members by moving production of the 787 Dreamliner to a non-unionised plant in South Carolina.

Workers had demanded a 40 percent wage rise, the restoration of a pension scheme that was axed a decade ago, and a stronger guarantee that future production would not be moved out of the Seattle region.

Jon Holden, IAM’s lead negotiator in the contract talks, said workers had spoken “loud and clear”.

“This is about respect, this is about addressing the past, and this is about fighting for our future,” Holden said.

“We strike at midnight.”

The strike, the first by Boeing workers since 2008, puts a halt to production of the best-selling 737 MAX and other aircraft as the company grapples with output delays, heavy financial losses and intense scrutiny of its safety record.

It also comes just weeks after new Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg took the helm of the company with a pledge to “reset” the company’s relations with the union.

Ortberg had on Wednesday urged workers to vote against a strike, warning it would “put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers and hurting our ability to determine our future together”.

Boeing did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

Adam Smith, a Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives representing Washington State, urged the two sides to return to the negotiating table.

“Across corporate America, so much of the wealth has wound up in the hands of so few people,” Smith said in a statement.

“Large corporations have increasingly prioritised their own profits and shareholders at the expense of workers. It is crucial that Boeing behaves as a responsible steward for its employees, so that every employee at their company is respected with fair wages and working conditions.”

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NINETY SIX PERCENT???

Bro how the hell did Boeing piss these guys off so much???? The closest my workplace ever got to a strike was when we literally didn't get a raise one year during Covid, and that was 62% to strike. We were all pissed at the company over that one for obvious reasons, but this...

To me this result off the back of a 25% raise says one thing: This isn't about pay. This was never about pay. EDIT: Nevermind! This is not a fucking 25% raise! This is a 6.25% raise every year for the next four years! This is NOT a 25% raise because of how it works in relation to inflation, and should NOT be treated as a 25% raise by anyone writing about it! It is presented as a 25% raise by Boeing solely to misinform and misdirect people! This is Boeing trying to wheedle their way out of paying their workers at rates above inflation ON TOP OF ALL THEIR EXISTING PROBLEMS!

Combining that with what we know about the company's culture of shutting down anyone with safety or wellbeing concerns in the name of faster cheaper production of aircraft...

That raise was only 6.25% per year in an age where prices are increasing more than that. It's not enough for a token raise anymore, people are seriously underpaid and executives are just outsiders that strip out the cash and give it to more outsiders.

For reference here are inflation rates YOY since 2017:

2017 2.10%

2018 1.90%

2019 2.30%

2020 1.40%

2021 7.00%

2022 6.50%

2023 3.40%

Just to make up for the last three years of inflation they would need +16.9% instantly. Assuming +2% inflation over those 4 years (which is the average but not right now) that means from 2020 to 2028 inflation rose 26.3% so if they started a +25% increase over 4 years this year, the workers would have the same spending power they had in 2020.

Data is from the bureau of labor statistics

That's the reported inflation by the government markers, but be realistic with yourself.

Since 2017 food prices have gone up more like 65%, houses have gone up 50% (doubled since 2010), mortgage apr rates have tripled, rent has gone up 74%, and gas has gone up by 35%. Used cars and new cars have gone up 40% to 80% as well.

Tying "inflation" to those government markers and claiming that it keeps you at even pace (I'm not accusing you of this) with living is asinine. If you want to buy a house and a car today, you pretty much need to double what you were making in 2017.

Inflation is a basket of goods. Yes, you can pick out specific things that are rising faster than overall inflation, but people don't buy just those.

There have been alternative means of measuring inflation, such as the old Billion Prices Project (stopped in 2016) or the Penn State ACY index:

https://sites.psu.edu/inflation/

In practice, they tend to track CPI fairly close.

You're not wrong but 25% over 4 years isn't going to even keep up with inflation if things keep going as they have. Our Union got 12% over two years for the upcoming contract and most of us aren't happy about it. I know it's better than most US workers are going to get but it's not good enough.

OH FUCK I MISSED THAT IT WAS ONE OF THOSE SHITTY MULTI-YEAR CONTRACTS

Editing the original, those contracts are pure shit and a hot new favourite trick for employers to try and twist the narrative in their favour. That isn't a 25% raise, that's a 6.25% raise as well as an agreement that your future raises can't be better.