Why Are Workers Striking?
Currently, on strike, more than 30,000 Boeing employees have rejected a plan offering salary raises in return for the abolition of incentives and pensions. There is no hint of a settlement with Boeing management as the strike moves into its second week.
What Do Workers on the Picket Line Have to Say?
Outside a Boeing facility, strikers from Auburn, Washington, discussed their motivations for walking out. Many mentioned the expense of living, the loss of bonuses and pensions, and growing inflation.
Attaching wings to Boeing 777X planes worth nearly $400 million (£300 million), Davon Smith, 37, makes around $28 (£21) an hour. He also works part-time as a security guard to help pay for things. About the security job, he says, “That kind of keeps me afloat a little bit.”
His fiancée, a Seattle school secretary, makes more than he does. Smith, who has only one year of experience working at Boeing, believes his compensation does not fairly represent the responsibilities of his position. “We almost certainly risk our lives whenever we fly to their standard. We receive [prison] time for it should something go wrong, like a torque’s out of spec or something else, like perhaps the plane goes down.
What Was Included in the Rejected Deal?
Union officials and Boeing initially agreed to a 25% salary boost over four years, better healthcare and retirement benefits, 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and more worker input on safety and quality concerns. However, the union had first asked for a 40% salary rise, and over 95% of its members voted against the agreement.
Many employees resent lost perks from past contract disputes, especially pensions guaranteeing retirement income. Boeing now makes contributions to 401(k)s, a type of worker investment account that fluctuates with the market.
“They simply removed everything. Mari Baker, 61, who started with Boeing in 1996 and now supervises tools at plants, says, “They took away our pensions, they took away our bonuses that people depend on.” Expressing anxiety about losing her health insurance should the strike go on, she characterizes the rejected settlement as “a slap in the face.”
How Is Boeing Responding to the Strike?
Although Boeing has not expressly addressed the strike, it has highlighted past remarks made by leadership hoping to mend the relationship with employees and come to an agreement. Following a run of safety concerns, Boeing was already suffering major financial losses and brand damage before the strike.
Tasked with turning the company around, new CEO Kelly Ortberg has advised staff to refrain from striking as it would compromise the company’s recovery. In reaction to the continuous strike, Boeing has said that tens of thousands of American employees will be suspended from their employment as a cost-cutting step.
An economic research company claims Boeing is “on the brink.” Estimates point to the strike costing workers and suppliers more than $100 million in lost salaries in the first week, with stockholders losing over $440 million. “This strike threatens the company’s reputation at a period when that reputation has suffered greatly, not only earnings,” they said.
What Are the Workers' Struggles for Livable Wages?
Picket line workers ignore Boeing’s threats because they have little to lose. “This past year working here, I couldn’t afford to pay my mortgage,” 47-year-old Kerri Foster explains. Having just joined Boeing following a nursing career, she now works as an aircraft technician and battles to meet basic expenses such as mortgage payments, property taxes, and growing living expenses.
Foster will keep striking unless her pension is restored and salary rises show evidence. Already, I’m starving. She says, “If you can’t pay your bills when you’re going to work, what’s the difference?”
Ryan Roberson, 38, is a Boeing final assembly division employee. Emphasizing that the rejected contract would not have affected his pay as a younger worker, he brought two of his six children to the picket line. “I intend to keep striking until workers at ‘that entry-level can have a livable wage,” he says.
Following the third week of the strike, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union gave members debit cards with $250 apiece. Roberson quips, pointing at the cheap instant noodles, “That $250 will buy a lot of Top Ramen.”
Why Are Workers Fighting for Fairness?
Marc Cisneros, 29, also on the picket line, says, “For the amount of work I do and the quality that I produce, it seems unfair that I’m unable to afford my rent.” He says Boeing is “putting me in essential poverty even though I’m working 40, 50, 60 hours per week.” Having spent four years working at Boeing, he feels let down by his meager pay and dreams of a better business future.
“This is indeed risky. Big hunks of metal hurtling across the sky, Cisneros says. You have to be proud of the caliber [and] of whatever you do here. Every single thing we create has our names on it.
The workers stay together in their demands for fair pay and restored benefits. At the same time, the strike continues, highlighting the continuous conflict between labor and business interests in the aerospace sector.
