Striking Boeing workers would like the company to stop negotiating in public
The union representing striking Boeing machinists is criticizing the company’s efforts to rally support for a contract that workers deem insufficient. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) says that it wants to work toward an agreement at the bargaining table or nowhere.
“Our members stand strong, and we remain ready to continue mediated or direct negotiations with Boeing (BA),” it said in an update to members on Tuesday. “This has been made clear to both the company and our membership. The only way to resolve this strike is through negotiations, and rest assured, your Union will not bargain through the media.”
Earlier this week, Boeing announced that it would be making a “best and final” contract offer that included a 30% wage increase. That number falls short of the 40% increase that the IAM had been seeking in earlier negotiations. Its members’ strike began after they voted down a contract that would have given them a 25% raise.
As it seeks to recover from its 737 Max door plug blowout scandal, Boeing needs the IAM’s 30,000-plus members to continue building planes even at a safety-minded slowdown in production in order to keep its operations afloat amid a huge cash crunch necessary to fix quality control issues. Though Boeing said that it “presented the offer to the union and then transparently shared the details with our employees,” the union said that making the offer public before negotiating it was a “blatant show of disrespect.”
Beyond these concerns, the IAM reported that members were dissatisfied with the proposed contract overall.
“The survey results from yesterday were overwhelmingly clear, almost as loud as the first offer: members are not interested in the company’s latest offer that was sent through the media,” it said Tuesday. “Many comments expressed that the offer was inadequate.”
