Boeing Workers Reject Contract Offer, Vote to Strike
Boeing Workers VoteReject toContract StrikeOffer, HaltingVote Jetto ProductionStrike
The Facts
A reported 94-95% of Boeing's 33K US manufacturing workers—representing a fifth of its total US staff—voted to reject their new contract offer Friday night, with 96% voting to go on strike.
Most of the workers are part District 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union, which is Boeing's largest union and covers mostly the Seattle, Wash., area. The rest are from District W24 in Portland, Ore.
The Spin
While a 25% pay raise sounds nice on its face, many of these workers make $20 per hour or less—making 25% a drop in the bucket. Seattle is one of the most expensive places to live in the country, which is why these men and women, who work dangerous factory jobs every day, are fighting to for a living wage for themselves and their families.
While this vote certainly shows that unions still have some power, that won't last forever as technology replaces human labor. Corprations across the country have had to layoff non-union workers, and even some union workers, due to rising costs. And even before technology takes over human labor, American manufacturing companies are beginning to shift their factories to Mexico.
