Machinists want better wages, pensions and healthcare from Boeing, the embattled aerospace giant that has faced problem after problem this year.
Machinists at Boeing have gone on strike, marking another setback for the aircraft maker whose reputation and finances have been battered, and whose production is now facing a shutdown.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said on Friday that its members had rejected a contract that would have raised pay by over 25% over four years.
On Thursday, they reportedly voted 94.6% in favour of rejecting the strike and 96% in favour of the strike, with only a two-thirds majority required.
“This is about respect, this is about addressing the past, and this is about fighting our future,” IAM District 751 President Jon Holden said while announcing the vote.
Machinists are bitter about stagnant wages and concessions they made since 2008 on pensions and healthcare to prevent the company from moving jobs elsewhere.
Very little has gone right for Boeing this year, from a panel blowing out in one of its passenger jets in January to NASA leaving two astronauts in space rather than sending them home on a problem-plagued Boeing spacecraft.
As long as the strike continues, Boeing will be deprived of much-needed cash that it gets from delivering new planes to airlines.
That will be another challenge for the organisation’s CEO, who was given the job of turning around the company that lost more than $25 billion (€23 billion) in the last six years.