New York (AFP) – Talks between Boeing and striking US factory workers will resume Tuesday under a federal mediator, the union said, after workers voted overwhelmingly to reject a proposal from the embattled aviation giant.
“On Tuesday, the Union will meet with federal mediators assigned through the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) and Boeing to begin discussions,” a chapter of the machinists union called IAM-District 751, which represents more than 33,000 union members in the Seattle region, said late Saturday on its website. Boeing did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
Since the strike began Friday in a dispute over pay, the first walkout at Boeing in 16 years, the company has said it is eager to return to the bargaining table. Union leaders called for the walkout shortly after hourly workers in the Seattle region in the Pacific Northwest spurned the tentative contract offer with 94.6 percent of the vote, and voted to strike with 96 percent. The last strike, in 2008, lasted 57 days.
Federal mediators had said Friday evening the talks would resume early next week but did not specify a date. “Now is the moment to rise — show Boeing that our voices aren’t just loud; they are unstoppable,” IAM-District 751 said. It added: “Let our presence on the picket lines echo across the country and beyond. We are stronger than ever before, and we won’t back down.”
The strike shuttered two major plane assembly plants for the 737 MAX and 777 in the Puget Sound region, further delaying the financially stressed company’s turnaround efforts. Boeing, led by new CEO Kelly Ortberg, had hoped a 25-percent wage hike over four years and a commitment to invest in the Puget Sound region would be enough. But rank-and-file workers described it as a slap in the face after more than a decade of nearly stagnant wages.
© 2024 AFP
