Boeing Workers Reject Contract Offer, Begin Strike
Boeing Workers Reject Contract Offer, VoteBegin to Strike
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.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 on Friday, with 96% voting to go on strike.
Most of the workers belong to District 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union, which is Boeing's largest union and covers mostly the Seattle, Washington, area. The rest of the workers belong to District W24 in Portland, Oregon.
The Spin
While a 25% pay raise sounds nice on its face, many of these workers make $20 per hour or less —making 25%meaning athe dropproposal inwon't theeven bucketsee them keep up with inflation. 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 rightfully 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 replacesthreatens to replace human labor. CorprationsCorporations across the country have had to layoff non-union workers, and even some union workers, due to rising costs. And even beforewithout technologyconsidering takesthe overtechnology human laborfactor, American manufacturing companies are already beginning to shift their factories to Mexico.
