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Tag: strike negotiations

  • Workers Reject Boeing’s Latest Offer After Nearly Three Months on Strike

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    Striking workers at Boeing Defense in the St. Louis area rejected the company’s latest contract proposal on Sunday, sending a strike that has already delayed delivery of fighter jets and other programs into its 13th week.

    In a statement after the vote, union leadership said the company had failed to address the needs of the roughly 3,200 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 837.

    “Boeing claimed they listened to their employees the result of today’s vote proves they have not,” IAM International President Brian Bryant said in a statement. “Boeing’s corporate executives continue to insult the very people who build the world’s most advanced military aircraft – the same planes and military systems that keep our servicemembers and nation safe.”

    The five-year offer was largely the same as offers previously rejected by union members. The company reduced the ratification bonus but added $3,000 in Boeing shares that vest over three years and a $1,000 retention bonus in four years. It also improved wage growth for workers at the top of the pay scale in the fourth year of the contract.

    “To fund the increases in this offer, we had to make trade-offs,” including reduced hourly wage increases tied to attendance and certain shift work, Boeing Vice President Dan Gillian said in a message to workers on Thursday.

    IAM leaders have pressed the planemaker for higher retirement plan contributions and a ratification bonus closer to the $12,000 that Boeing gave to union members on strike last year in the company’s commercial airplane division in the Pacific Northwest.

    Boeing’s Gillian has called the company’s offer a landmark deal and “market-leading,” and he has repeatedly said Boeing would not increase the overall value of its terms, and only shift value around.

    Boeing is expected to report another unprofitable quarter when it posts its third-quarter results on Wednesday. Wall Street analysts anticipate the company will announce a multi-billion dollar charge on its 777X program, which is six years behind schedule and not yet certified by regulators.

    In September, IAM members approved the union’s proposed four-year contract. However, Boeing management has refused to consider that offer.

    The IAM estimates that its offer would add about $50 million to the agreement’s cost over its four-year duration, compared with the company offer that was rejected. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg is set to earn $22 million this year.

    Union officials accused Boeing of bargaining in bad faith in an unfair labor practice charge filed October 16 with the National Labor Relations Board.

    “It’s well past time for Boeing to stop cheaping out on the workers who make its success possible and bargain a fair deal that respects their skill and sacrifice,” Bryant said.

    Union members say they are getting by on a mix of $300 a week in strike benefits from the IAM, second jobs, and belt-tightening. Boeing has said that striking workers’ coverage under company-provided health insurance ended on August 30.

    Since the strike began on August 4, Boeing officials have repeatedly said the company’s mitigation plan has limited the effects of the work stoppage on production.

    However, it has delayed deliveries of F-15EX fighters to the U.S. Air Force, General Kenneth Wilsbach told the Senate Armed Services Committee in comments submitted for a October 9 hearing on his nomination as the Air Force’s chief of staff.

    Reporting by Dan Catchpole in Seattle; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Nia Williams and Edmund Klamann

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    Reuters

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  • Agreement Reached to Avert Broadway Actors’ Strike, Union Says

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    Broadway actors have reached a tentative agreement to avert a strike that would shut down 32 stage productions as theater attendance approaches its peak season, according to their union.

    Actors’ Equity, a union that represents more than 51,000 actors and stage managers, said it reached a tentative, three-year agreement with The Broadway League, the trade association that represents theater owners, producers and operators.

    However, the producers have yet to reach an agreement with the American Federation of Musicians Local 802, which represents Broadway’s musicians, so a strike by that union is still possible. The actors union said it would put its full support behind the musicians union as it works to reach an agreement.

    Al Vincent Jr., executive director and lead negotiator for Actors’ Equity, said that the agreement “saves the Equity-League Health Fund while also making strides in our other priorities including scheduling and physical therapy access”.

    The agreement for the contract has been sent to members for ratification, according to the union. The previous three-year contract ended on September 28.

    The union had earlier in September threatened to walk off the stage as it had not reached an agreement. A central issue in bargaining had been healthcare and the contribution the Broadway League makes to the union’s health care fund.

    Other sectors of the entertainment industry have been roiled by labor unrest, with Hollywood actors and writers striking in 2023, as they fought for better compensation in the streaming TV era and curbs on the use of artificial intelligence.

    Video game actors staged a nearly year-long walkout as they sought protections against the use of artificial intelligence, before reaching a tentative agreement with game studios in July.

    Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru and Dawn Chmielewski in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Franklin Paul

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    Reuters

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