More than 30,000 workers who produce Boeing\u2019s top-selling 737 MAX and other jets began a strike on Friday
\n SEATTLE
\nA strike at Boeing \u201ccould go on for a while\u201d as workers are confident they can get bigger wage increases and an improved pension, union leader Jon Holden said in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR) on Saturday.
\nMore than 30,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), who produce Boeing\u2019s top-selling 737 MAX and other jets in the Seattle and Portland, began a strike on Friday after overwhelmingly voting down a new contract.
\nBoeing and union negotiators are due to return to the bargaining table next week, in talks overseen by US federal mediators, after more than 94 percent of workers voted to reject an initial contract offer that Holden had endorsed.
\nHolden said the priorities for his members were a bigger wage increase and the restoration of a defined-benefit pension scheme that the IAM lost during a previous round of negotiations with Boeing a decade ago.
\n\u201cWe have the most leverage and the most power at the most opportune time that we\u2019ve ever had in our history, and our members are expecting us to use it,\u201d Holden told NPR.
\n\u201cI know that our members are confident. They\u2019re standing shoulder to shoulder and they\u2019re ready. So it (the strike) could go on for a while.\u201d
\nThe initial deal included a 25 percent pay rise spread over four years and a commitment by Boeing to build its next commercial jet in the Seattle region, if the plane program was launched within the four-year period of the contract.
\nUnion members, venting frustration at years of stagnant wages and rising living costs, said removal of a performance bonus in the Boeing offer would erode half of the headline salary increase.
\nBoeing\u2019s stock fell 3.7 percent on Friday. It has tumbled almost 40 percent so far this year, slashing the company\u2019s market value by roughly $58 billion
\nA long strike could further damage Boeing\u2019s finances, already groaning due to a $60 billion debt pile. A lengthy pause on plane production would also weigh on airlines that fly Boeing jets and suppliers that manufacture parts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
More than 30,000 workers who produce Boeing\u2019s top-selling 737 MAX and other jets began a strike on Friday SEATTLE A strike at Boeing \u201ccould go on for a while\u201d as workers are confident they can get bigger wage increases and an improved pension, union leader Jon Holden said in an interview with National Public Radio […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":431475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-431434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n