Boeing Machinists’ Strike Settled

Some 27,000 of Boeing’s machinists, who walked off the job on 6 September, are now back at work. A new contract agreement reached on 27 October included wage and pension increases, and preserved health-care benefits. It also included lump-sum payments for each employee totalling $8,000 per worker over four years.

Boeing said in a statement that the new agreement “addresses the union’s job-security issues while enabling Boeing to retain the flexibility needed to run the business.”

Importantly for the wider industry, the end of the strike has increased certainty for a number of Boeing’s suppliers, who were suffering significant hardship as a result of the Boeing shut-down.

It is estimated that the strike cost Boeing around $100 million each day. It will have further follow-on effects in the form of production delays, which could impact the company in terms of penalty payments to airlines for failing to meet delivery deadlines. Boeing says it expects to regain its pre-strike efficiency within two months.

Having finalised its contract with its machinists, Boeing now faces negotiations with 21,000 engineers, scientists, technicians and other members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace whose contract expires on the first day of December.

According to a report by the International Herald Tribune, Boeing has lost 203 days of production to work stoppages during the past decade.