Boeing Co. executives have spent the past month grappling with the aftermath of a near-catastrophe on an airborne 737 Max jet. As the US planemaker works through its latest crisis tied to manufacturing lapses, a new risk looms: a labor rift 10 years in the making.
Boeing’s largest union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, is still smarting over a 2014 deal that sacrificed pensions, locked in minimal raises and tied the hands of activists for a decade. Union leaders will demand a 40% pay raise over three or four years, emboldened by a resurgent US labor movement, a scarcity of qualified aerospace workers and pressure on Boeing to stabilize work in its factories.
“Our goal is to negotiate a contract that we as a union leadership and our members can accept,” said Jon Holden, president of IAM District 751, which represents 32,000 Seattle-area Boeing mechanics. “We don’t take going on strike lightly. But we’re willing to do it.”
Holden sees a path to a successful deal with Boeing, he said in an interview. Even so, he’s prepared to follow the lead of auto workers in Detroit, writers and actors in Hollywood, and fellow machinists at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. in Kansas. Each emerged from walkouts last year with significant improvements in pay and other contract terms.
A strike would shut down Boeing plants in Washington and Oregon, including assembly lines for its cash-cow 737 jets, crimping output after the current IAM contract expires in September.
With talks set to start on March 8, labor tensions will add to the scrutiny on Boeing Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun. He already faces questions from lawmakers and investors over a spate of manufacturing problems — the latest, an issue with holes misdrilled by Spirit — while the Federal Aviation Administration has stepped up its oversight and capped production increases for the 737 until quality improves.
“We remain focused on working with our teams to strengthen quality across our operations,” Boeing said in a statement. “We believe there’s a path to a new contract that addresses the needs and concerns of our people while maintaining our ability to compete in the global market.”
10-Year Grudge
The tactics Boeing used a decade ago to wrest pension concessions and limit pay increases to less than 1% on average loom large over the coming negotiations — they were still in place when inflation…
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