Boeing workers resoundingly reject new contract and extend strike

SEATTLE — Boeing’s largest union rejected a tentative labor contract Wednesday by a wide margin, extending a damaging strike and adding to the mounting financial problems facing the company, which hours earlier had reported a $6.1 billion loss.

The contract, the second that workers have voted down, was opposed by 64% of those voting, according to the union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. The union represents about 33,000 workers, but it did not disclose how many voted Wednesday.

Boeing declined to comment on the vote, which was a setback for the company’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, who is trying to restore its reputation and business with a strategy he described in detail earlier Wednesday. In remarks to workers and investors, Ortberg said Boeing needed to undergo “fundamental culture change” to stabilize the business and to improve execution. Ortberg delivered that message alongside the company’s quarterly financial results.

The strike began Sept. 13 after 95% of workers voting rejected an earlier contract offer that had been backed by union leaders and Boeing.

Under the contract, workers would have received cumulative raises of nearly 40% over four years, a significant increase over the rejected offer and approaching what the union initially sought. The offer included a $7,000 one-time bonus and additional contributions to retirement plans. It also would have preserved an incentive bonus program that the initial rejected offer would have replaced.

Boeing machinists make about $75,000 in average annual pay. Over the last decade, the workers have seen raises under the union contract of 8% and more than $4 an hour in additional cost-of-living adjustments, according to the company. Consumer prices in the Seattle area have risen more than 40% over the past decade, according to federal data.

But the contract did not revive a defined-benefit pension plan that was frozen a decade ago — an important priority for many union members. Many workers have been furious over that loss for years. Workers have also been angry with the leadership of the union’s parent organization, which they say scheduled the vote in a way that supported approval of the offer.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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