NEW YORK: Boeing faces a potentially crippling strike in the Seattle region, depending on how 33,000 workers vote Thursday on a new contract that has angered many employees despite solid wage gains. Led by new CEO Kelly Ortberg, the embattled aviation giant had hoped a 25 percent wage hike over four years and a commitment to invest in the Puget Sound region would avert a strike at a time when Boeing remains financially weak after myriad crises.

But while the preliminary contract won an endorsement from leaders of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 751, the response from much of the rank-and-file has been harsh. Broadcast reports in the Seattle region have featured footage of line workers who hold daily rallies on the factory floor and call the wage hikes inadequate in light of inflation.

A Sunday posting on the IAM’s Facebook page announcing the deal was removed after drawing hundreds of comments, with many condemning the deal or calling for a strike. A strike would shutter Boeing production assembly plants for the 737 MAX and 777, further delaying the company’s turnaround efforts. Among the major points of contention, the wage hike falls short of the 40 percent IAM had sought, and the new deal fails to reinstate pensions.

IAM President Jon Holden told members what happens next is up to union members. “We have achieved everything we could in bargaining, short of a strike,” Holden said in a message to workers. “We recommended acceptance because we can’t guarantee we can achieve more in a strike,” Holden said. “But that is your decision to make and is a decision that we will protect and support, no matter what.” Stephanie Pope, president of Boeing’s commercial plane division, said the contract delivers the largest-ever wage hike despite the company’s $60 billion in debt. The pledge to the Puget Sound region is an “unprecedented commitment” to the area.

In a statement Wednesday evening Ortberg warned against a strike, saying it would “put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers and hurting our ability to determine our future together.” The new contract is a “hard sell,” said aviation website Leeham News. “The deal makes progress in the areas IAM members identified as priorities, but falls short of the union’s stated goals in most of them.”

Leeham predicted the contract would fail to win a majority vote, but said it was unclear whether critics of the deal would win a two-thirds majority on a second question of whether to strike. If the contract fails to win a majority but a strike vote also falls short, the contract offer is accepted by default, according to IAM rules. In an interview with the Seattle Times published Monday, Holden said, “Right now, I think it will be voted down, and our members will vote to strike.”

Advantage: labor?

Boeing has been under renewed scrutiny since a January incident in which a fuselage panel blew out of an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX plane mid-flight, necessitating an emergency landing. That revived questions about safety and quality control after the company had seemingly made progress following deadly MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019. The aerospace giant in March announced a management shakeup that included the exit of Dave Calhoun as CEO. It has also slowed production on the MAX as it beefs up quality control.

Ortberg, who took the helm on August 8, has pledged a “reset” on labor relations as part of a turnaround. The IAM talks come on the heels of a more assertive labor movement as embodied by strikes at Detroit’s “Big Three” and John Deere, and a near-strike at UPS that was resolved with a last-minute deal with the Teamsters. “The power balance has shifted in favor of workers,” said Cornell University labor relations expert Harry Katz, who noted that Boeing’s position has been weakened by “turmoil and management problems.”

Andrew Hedden, associate director of the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies at the University of Washington, said strikes have become common at Boeing since 1970s. Hedden said the company’s pledge for new investment, while encouraging, did not completely settle concerns about Boeing’s long-term footprint in Seattle because the contract is only four years long. “There’s still work to do for the union and for the people in Washington state to make sure the company holds to that,” Hedden said. — AFP