Boeing, end of strike: employees say yes to new contract
59% of the workers accepted the 38% increase over four years: for seven weeks they had crossed their arms by blocking aircraft production.
by Mara Monti
2' min read
2' min read
Boeing workers accepted the new contract offer, ending a seven-week strike that had halted most aircraft production and deepened the manufacturer's financial crisis. The union said 59 per cent of workers voted in favour of the new contract, which includes a 38 per cent wage increase spread over four years and a $12,000 bonus for each worker, after voting against the previous two offers.
"This is a victory," said Jon Holden, the union secretary, after the results were announced. The 33,000 workers and machinists involved in the production of the 737 MAX, Boeing's best-selling aircraft, and the 767 and 777, had been on strike since 13 September and had initially demanded a 40 per cent wage increase. It will now take weeks for aircraft production to resume after the strike cost, according to analysts, around $100 million per day. The group had been forced to resort to the market with a $21 billion fundraising to avoid a rating downgrade.
The strike and the slowdown in aircraft production also weighed on the airlines, forcing them to revise their growth plans precisely because of the lack of aircraft.
On the stock market, the share moved into positive territory, gaining around 1.6 per cent, but has been negative by 40 per cent since the start.
President Joe Biden and Acting Secretary of Labour Julie Su, who facilitated the contract negotiations, congratulated the workers and the company on the result. "We have shown that collective bargaining works," said Biden.
