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Over 99% of Boeing workers at its Washington state factory voted Wednesday to authorize strike action, upping pressure on the planemaker to increase wages and guarantee job security.
The vote comes as the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), a union representing the Boeing factory workers, seeks an entirely new contract for the first time in 16 years.
The union is seeking a 40% pay rise, the reinstatement of a traditional pension program which was cut in 2014, and job security for the next 50 years.
Around 30,000 workers at Boeing’s Seattle plant took part, mandating strike action should contract negotiations break down, as was expected prior to the vote.
As the vote was conducted, the union held an event during which workers held signs with messages including “no pay no planes.”
“We don’t want to strike — but we’re ready and willing to do so to bring home the best aerospace contract our members have ever seen,” said Jon Holden, Union President of the IAM District 751 branch, in a statement.
“There is no Boeing without us, and we have what it takes to build this company back to the level it was,” he added.
Workers not deterred by Boeing’s plight
The vote mounts pressure on Boeing which has struggled following a series of incidents including two fatal crashes involving Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft in 2018 and 2019, and January’s mid-flight Boeing 737 Max 9 panel blow-out.
Boeing has been heavily criticized during subsequent investigations from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over a poor safety culture including whisteblowing retaliation, and from the US Justice Department following which it has agreed to plead guilty to charges of criminal fraud conspiracy.
"Our jobs, our legacy, and our reputation are on the line right now," Holden said.
The union president has previously asserted that the IAM has “a lot of leverage right now and we are going to use it,” adding that he would push Boeing “further than they ever would think they are going to go on wages and job security.”
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Holden also asserted that the company’s structural and financial difficulties will not deter its workers from seeking a better deal.
Boeing released a statement earlier this week in which it reiterated its expectation to reach an agreement with unionized workers.
"We remain confident we can reach a deal that balances the needs of our employees and the business realities we face as a company,” it said.
Boeing workers seek job security as well as better pay
Although nearly 99.9% of workers voted in favor of strike action, no walkout will be possible until after September 12, when the current contract between Boeing and its Washington factory workers expires.
But if Boeing wishes to avoid possible disruption to manufacturing and production, it will have to resolve the IAM’s demands for Boeing’s new airplane model to be produced in Washington.
Workers and union officials have previously argued that the production of past models such as the 787 was shifted to lower costs and that Boeing has leveraged production location to avoid agreeing to an entirely new contract.
In 2023, Boeing asked for an extension to an earlier contract as a guarantee to keep the production of the 777X widebody at the Seattle plant.
However, given the company’s precarious circumstances and major pay increases elsewhere in the aviation industry – American Airlines pilots, for example, secured a 46% pay bump in August 2023 – Holden believes the circumstances are ideal to leverage a significantly improved contract.
“We want to ensure that we can never again be hit mid-contract with threats to take away our livelihoods,” Holden declared in a previous statement before the vote. “If we can secure work for the next 50 years, which is the lifetime of an aircraft programme, we’d be helping everyone, not just our members and those that follow them but engineers, management, and the whole supply chain.”
