Boeing factory workers reject latest contract offer

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Boeing factory workers voted on Wednesday to reject the aircraft maker’s latest offer and stay on the picket line, dealing a blow to the new chief executive’s plan to stabilise the business.

Among members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 who voted, 64 per cent voted against the latest deal. Management had increased a pay raise offer to 35 per cent over four years and improved proposals on retirement benefits.

The union’s 33,000 members in Washington state have been on strike for nearly six weeks. The vote pushes back the date that Boeing can recommence making most of its commercial jets and begin repairing its finances. “The strike continues,” the union said.

Boeing did not immediately comment on the vote.

Chief executive Kelly Ortberg said earlier on Wednesday that ratification of a contract and ending the strike was a critical part of his plan to stabilise the company. One analyst has estimated the strike is costing Boeing $50mn a day.

Union members last month voted 96 per cent in favour of going on strike, rejecting a first tentative agreement negotiated by District 751’s bargaining committee that offered a 25 per cent pay raise.

Boeing factory workers’ wages have risen just 4 per cent over the past eight years, while inflation has skyrocketed. Many workers are still angry over a bruising fight in 2014 that cost union members their traditional defined-benefit pensions.

Acting US labour secretary Julie Su helped broker the latest offer. Besides a 35 per cent pay increase, it would have improved retirement benefits, without restoring the defined-benefit pension, which some workers had demanded and Boeing strongly opposed. It also included a one-time $7,000 bonus and ongoing performance bonuses.

The vote came the same day Boeing reported a $6bn net loss in the third quarter and Ortberg laid out his plan for a turnaround.

He said ending the strike was the first step to stabilising the business, which has burnt $10bn in cash this year, and that he was “very hopeful that the package we put forward will allow our employees to come back to work”.

Boeing plans to cut 17,000 jobs over the coming months as it tries “to align [the workforce] with our financial reality”.

Boeing’s recovery is “on hold” while the strike continues, said Baird analyst Peter Arment.

“We expect [Boeing] to further enhance the contract offer, but resolution likely moves to November,” he said.