Yesterday evening, Monday 4 November, Boeing workers on the West Coast of the United States accepted the new contract offer, ending a harsh seven-week strike that halted most aircraft production, worsening the financial crisis of the manufacturer. The IAM union said that 59% of its members voted in favor of the new contract (around 26,000 people), resulting in a 38% pay increase spread over four years, thus easing pressure on Boeing’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, after two previous offers were rejected in the last two weeks. Shares of the plane maker immediately rose nearly 2% in pre-market trading. Jon Holden, the union’s main negotiator, declared after the announcement of the agreement: “This is a victory from which we emerge with our heads held high, now it’s our turn to get back to work.” At the same time, in a message to employees, Kelly Ortberg said he was happy that the union had ratified the agreement: “Although the last few months have been difficult for all of us, we are part of the same team, there is a lot of work to do to return to the excellence that made Boeing an iconic company.” Since last September 13, around 33,000 workers on the B-737 Max lines, Boeing’s best-selling commercial airplane, were idle, as were the workers who worked on the larger B-767s (a line that also powers military tankers) and B-777s. . Boeing also promised to build its next airplane model in the Seattle area, while US President Joe Biden and current Labor Secretary Julie Su, who facilitated contract talks, congratulated the workers and the company for the outcome: “We have shown that collective bargaining works,” Biden said on the sidelines of a speech on the elections underway in these hours. Boeing said Secretary Su was instrumental in moving both sides toward an agreement, while Biden was particularly supportive of unions even the day before Americans went to the polls to choose his successor. Not everything is certainly resolved for Boeing, which will take weeks to restore production rates and months to increase cash flow, also because, according to internal news from the factory, the B-737 Max line will not be able to reach 38 units per months expected before the strike. Meanwhile, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (Iam) union has announced that from tomorrow workers will be able to start building aircraft again, while the company has specified that some people will have to be retrained due to the prolonged period of downtime. The strike is estimated to have cost Boeing around $100 million a day in lost earnings, prompting the plane maker to raise $24 billion from investors last week in a bid to preserve its credit level. For his part, CEO Ortberg must now restore relations with workers in the Pacific Northwest who went on strike to vent the anger accumulated over a decade of failed wage updates relative to inflation and the cost of living in the area. Seattle, which has grown several times over. However, around 40% of workers rejected the agreement. The Reuters agency reports the words of a worker who supported the no vote, Thomas Amilowski, assigned to the B-777 line, who declared: “I am demoralized to put it mildly, the union leadership, which had supported the offer in the first vote, resoundingly rejected by almost 95% of members, had a defeatist mentality. Now with 59% of supporters it is clear that there are those who are not happy with the vote.” In the meantime, however, Boeing has made it known that in four years, when the application of the new contract will be completed, the average annual pay of workers will be 119,309 dollars, an increase compared to the previous 75,608. Financial analysts say the pay raise could add $1.1 billion to Boeing’s payroll over the next four years, while a $12,000 bonus for each union member could result in an outflow of another $396 million.
