More than 30,000 union members at Boeing walked out on Friday, shutting down West Coast operations, rejecting a four-year contract offer late Thursday. Boeing stock retreated Friday, leading declines for the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
The strike marks the first at Boeing since 2008. Roughly 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers went on strike after the late-night vote, halting airplane assembly at Boeing's factories in Seattle, as well as Portland, Ore. and Southern California, according to reports. The Dow Jones aerospace giant produces its 737 Max at the sites, already under scrutiny by regulators for quality control concerns, as well as other jets.
Boeing's previous strike lasted eight weeks and cost the company an estimated $2 billion, according to NPR. According to Boeing's website, the company employs more than 170,000 workers.
The union's bargaining unit reached a tentative deal with Boeing on Sunday following months of negotiations. The offer would have raised wages by 25% over four years, lowered employees' share of health care costs and increased the company's retirement contributions. Boeing also promised to build its next new model plane at facilities in the Pacific Northwest, rather than its non-unionized South Carolina plant.
"We achieved everything we could in bargaining, short of a strike," IAM 751 Union president Jon Holden wrote in a Monday note about the agreement. "We recommend acceptance because we can't guarantee we can achieve more in a strike. But that is your decision to make and is a decision that we will protect and support, no matter what."
However, the union sought a 40% raise as well as additional pension changes. For the vote, 94.6% of the members rejected the contract and 96% voted to strike.
The strike is another major challenge for new CEO Robert Kelly Ortberg, who took over for Dave Calhoun starting Aug. 8. Boeing appointed Ortberg in July to help right the company's quality control issues, which resulted in multiple in-flight malfunctions this year.
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Boeing Stock Sinks
BA shares retreated 2% Friday, as most Dow Jones stocks traded higher.
Boeing stock has unraveled nearly 40% this year. The stock is trading around its lowest price since November 2022.
Supplier Spirit AeroSystems eased 1.3% Friday. Shares of rival Airbus ticked lower.
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