&w=1024&resize=1024,0&ssl=1 "Boeing workers go on 'long trips' after pay talks break down: trade union leader | world news")
The chief negotiator for Boeing's union, which represents about 33,000 workers on strike for nearly a month, said Wednesday that members were willing to wait for a planner after wage talks broke down a day earlier.
“We're in this for the long haul and our members understand that,” John Holden told Reuters.
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He said Boeing offered only modest improvements before negotiations ended Tuesday and the union has strong funding to pay members $250 a week during the shutdown.
Reaching an acceptable agreement is crucial for Boeing. Ratings agency S&P estimates the strike is costing $1 billion a month and risks losing its valuable investment-grade credit rating.
Even before the strike began on Sept. 13, the company was losing money as it tried to recover from a mid-January blowout of an air vent panel on a new plane that exposed lax safety protocols and prompted U.S. regulators to halt production.
A strike by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) on the West Coast of the United States has suspended production of the best-selling Boeing 737 Max, 767 and 777 aircraft.
A letter sent Wednesday from about 20 House Democrats to Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, Holden and IAM's international president urged both sides to negotiate in good faith to reach a fair agreement “in a timely manner.”
Boeing declined to comment on the letter.
Shares of the U.S. planemaker fell 3.4 percent on Wednesday.
In 2024, the company's shares lost more than 40 percent of their value.
Offer withdrawn
Boeing said Tuesday that after two days of negotiations, it withdrew its wage offer to IAM and accused the union of not taking its proposals seriously.
Last month, the planner came up with a better offer that gave workers a 30 percent raise and performance bonuses back. The union, however, refused to vote on the proposal, which it called Boeing's “best and final,” arguing that a survey of its members showed it was not sufficient.
Holden said Wednesday that some of its members wanted to vote on the proposal, but there were no other offers on the table from Boeing. He declined to specify what would be included in a negotiated proposal that could be put to a vote.
Holden said Boeing has offered some improvements related to minimum guarantees of annual performance bonuses, but has not made overall demands for higher pay that are important to members. The union wants a 40 percent pay increase over four years and better pension benefits after more than 90 percent voted last month in favor of a proposed contract that included a 25 percent wage increase.
“They're trying to take credit for a very small, very inconsequential movement that doesn't really touch on the big issues that we may be facing before our members,” said Holden, president of IAM District 751.
“The areas where there has been no improvement are outstanding.” Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Stephanie Pope on Tuesday described the union's demands as “non-negotiable.” “Further negotiations make no sense at this stage,” he said in a note to employees.
Holden said he would not describe the current breakdown in talks as an “impasse”, adding that “we are confident that good progress can be made.”
As the strike drags on, Boeing is considering options to add billions of dollars to its balance sheet. Reuters reported that it was considering selling shares and equity securities.
The company also introduced temporary leave for thousands of full-time employees.
Ratings agency S&P estimates the strike will cost Boeing more than $1 billion a month, although the planemaker has implemented cost-cutting measures in response to the production halt.
(Only the headline and image of this report may have been modified by Business Standards staff; the rest of the content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
