Boeing machinists vote to strike after rejecting pay increases of 25% over 4 years
Associated PressSEATTLE — Machinists at Boeing voted Thursday to go on strike, another setback for the giant aircraft maker whose reputation and finances have been battered and now faces a shutdown in production of its best-selling airline planes. He told machinists Wednesday that “no one wins” in a walkout, and that a strike would put Boeing’s recovery in jeopardy and raise more doubt about the company in the eyes of its airline customers. “I’m expecting my union brothers and sisters to stand shoulder to shoulder, arm in arm, and let our company know that, hey, we deserve more.” The machinists make $75,608 per year on average, not counting overtime, and that would rise to $106,350 at the end of the four-year contract, according to Boeing. The strike will stop production of the 737 Max, Boeing’s best-selling airliner, along with the 777 or “triple-seven” jet and the 767 cargo plane at factories in Renton and Everett, Washington, near Seattle. TD Cowen aerospace analyst Cai von Rumohr said before the vote that it is realistic based on the history of Boeing strikes — the last two were in 1995 and 2008 — to figure that a walkout would last into mid-November, when workers’ $150 weekly payments from the union’s strike fund might seem low going into the holidays.