Thousands of Boeing workers voted on Thursday to go on strike after rejecting a contract offer from the company, a potentially costly disruption as it tries to increase airplane production after a safety crisis.
The walkout, scheduled for midnight Pacific time, is expected to bring operations to a halt in the Seattle area, home to most of Boeing’s commercial plane manufacturing. The slowdown could also further disrupt the company’s fragile supply chain.
“A strike would put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers,” Kelly Ortberg, the company’s new chief executive, said in a message on Wednesday to employees asking them to approve the deal.
Boeing plays a substantial role in the U.S. economy. It employs almost 150,000 people across the country — nearly half of them in Washington State — and is one of the nation’s largest exporters. The company, which also makes military jets, rockets, spacecraft and Air Force One, is a global symbol of America’s manufacturing strength.
A vast majority of the 33,000 workers governed by the contract are represented by District 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Members of that union, Boeing’s largest, mostly work on commercial airplanes in the Seattle area. The dispute also involves workers in the Portland, Ore., area who are represented by the union’s smaller District W24.
The post Boeing Workers Vote to Strike After Rejecting Contract Deal appeared first on New York Times.
