New York (AFP) – Boeing workers at its St. Louis area defense factories will stay on strike after union members voted Friday to reject a new contract offer from the US aviation giant. The strike began August 4, involving some 3,200 workers in Missouri and Illinois represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 837. This marks the third time that workers have rejected a company offer, and Boeing said in a statement that no further talks were scheduled for now.
“Boeing’s modified offer did not include a sufficient signing bonus relative to what other Boeing workers have received,” the union said Friday in a statement, in which it also cited the lack of improvement in other benefits. IAM is among the biggest unions in North America, representing some 600,000 members in aerospace, defense, shipbuilding, transportation, health care, manufacturing and other industries.
Products produced at Boeing’s St. Louis operation include the F-15 and F-18 combat aircraft, the T-7 Red Hawk Advanced Pilot Training System and the MQ-25 unmanned aircraft. The site was originally part of the McDonnell Douglas company, which Boeing acquired in 1997.
“We’re disappointed our employees have rejected a five-year offer, including 45 percent average wage growth,” said Dan Gillian, a senior St. Louis site executive with Boeing. He stressed that the company had adjusted its offer based on feedback to address workers’ concerns. “We will continue to execute our contingency plan, including hiring permanent replacement workers, as we maintain support for our customers,” Gillian added in a statement.
Boeing announced last week that it was launching a recruitment drive to find “permanent” manufacturing workers to replace the striking employees. The latest strike comes on the heels of a much larger stoppage in Boeing’s commercial aviation business involving some 33,000 workers. In 2024, they halted production at Pacific Northwest factories for more than seven weeks.
© 2024 AFP
