The article:
Boeing’s roughly 33,000 factory workers on the West Coast of the United States have voted overwhelmingly to strike in the latest blow for the beleaguered aircraft giant.
Machinists at the company’s factories in Seattle and Portland, Oregon on Thursday voted to walk off the job from midnight after rejecting management’s latest offer for better pay and conditions.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said that 94.6 percent of its members voted to reject the contract and 96 percent backed a strike.
Boeing’s offer would have raised pay by 25 percent over four years, reduced workers’ share of healthcare costs and increased the company’s retirement contributions.
The aircraft maker’s offer also included a commitment to build its next aircraft at its facilities in greater Seattle after the company angered union members by moving production of the 787 Dreamliner to a non-unionised plant in South Carolina.
Workers had demanded a 40 percent wage rise, the restoration of a pension scheme that was axed a decade ago, and a stronger guarantee that future production would not be moved out of the Seattle region.
Jon Holden, IAM’s lead negotiator in the contract talks, said workers had spoken “loud and clear”.
“This is about respect, this is about addressing the past, and this is about fighting for our future,” Holden said.
“We strike at midnight.”
The strike, the first by Boeing workers since 2008, puts a halt to production of the best-selling 737 MAX and other aircraft as the company grapples with output delays, heavy financial losses and intense scrutiny of its safety record.
It also comes just weeks after new Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg took the helm of the company with a pledge to “reset” the company’s relations with the union.
Ortberg had on Wednesday urged workers to vote against a strike, warning it would “put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers and hurting our ability to determine our future together”.
Boeing did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Adam Smith, a Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives representing Washington State, urged the two sides to return to the negotiating table.
“Across corporate America, so much of the wealth has wound up in the hands of so few people,” Smith said in a statement.
“Large corporations have increasingly prioritised their own profits and shareholders at the expense of workers. It is crucial that Boeing behaves as a responsible steward for its employees, so that every employee at their company is respected with fair wages and working conditions.”
Boing needs to be nationalized.
Our Boing
Having worked for the government before, I think that's a bad idea. A strong union and equitable compensation for labor are the best path forward.
Ya because obviously the free market is doing so well for Boeing. We've (the tax payers) bailed out this company multiple times to the toon of billions and their planes are dropping out of the sky. Nah fam, if they are too big to fail but they can continue to fail when is enough?
Throwing enough money at a company to bail out out because they couldn't manage themselves, getting nothing in return, and begging them to pwiddy pweeease not do it again rather than taking control of that strategic asset, and deleting its management is some impressive cuckoldry.
We need to nationalize the rail companies and oil companies as well.
And the banks. Incrementally easing into the housing market, and shifting company ownership to the workers sounds like a good idea - can't have all the profits from workers' labour being handed to lazy welfare queen shareholders.
Unless the unions are in charge the problem of the MBAs sending the company nosediving into the ground will remain in your scenario.
How about a strong union on top of nationalization?
There haven't been real government employee unions since Reagan. They're all kneecapped by law, and functionally can't strike.
oh hey cool another reason to think Reagan was a horrible fucking ghoul
I wonder if there have been any studies done on how this decision impacted ATC suicide rates.
EDIT: huh, well I'm not actually finding data on suicide rates among ATCs. I wonder if I'm repeating a myth? Or if it's just not well publicized or studied.
It's entirely possible that data doesn't exist.. ALSO because of Reagan.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_Health_Systems_Act_of_1980
They allow themselves to be kneecapped by law imo
I'm sure in a good 20-30 years, when all the old fuckers holding jobs keel over at their desks, there might be more willpower to strike, but until then, not worth it for most people to risk one of the few ways to actually get fired from a federal job.
Edit: That or pay differential from private vs public sector gets large enough they can't hire anybody. That seems more likely to me tbh.
A funded, exceptional government is needed. We should be treating these jobs as more than after-thoughts.
republiQans have been destroying it out loud, in earnest for fifty years