House Armed Services committee members are begging Boeing leaders to negotiate with 3,200 union workers and end a nearly-three-month strike at the company’s fighter jet and munitions factories in St. Louis.
In a letter published Wednesday, the bipartisan group of 17 HASC members urged Boeing to resume talks with its International Association of Machinists and Aerospace-represented workers. They expressed alarm at reports that the company has been accelerating efforts to hire non-union workers instead.
“For more than 80 days, including with the assistance of federal mediation, both sides have yet to come to terms on a new contract,” the letter said. “However, we are concerned by recent reports that Boeing Defense has inquired on hiring permanent replacements for striking workers in manufacturing roles…we are urging both sides to come back to the table to negotiate
to conclude this ongoing, disruptive strike.”
But company leaders continued to seem unbothered by the labor dispute. Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said Wednesday during the company’s third-quarter earnings call that production on Joint Direct Attack Munitions, the Air Force’s T-7A trainer, and the Navy’s MQ-25 unmanned aerial refueler continued during the strike.
“In St. Louis, we are executing our contingency plan as our IAM-represented workforce remains on strike,” Ortberg said during the call. “We are building JDAMS without IAM workforce at about the same production rate as before the work stoppage, and the team is progressing on our MQ-25 and T-7A development programs.”
A Boeing spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday about the Congressional letter and more details about the strike’s effects on other defense programs such as the company’s F-15EX, F/A-18, and F-47 fighter jets.
The IAM filed two labor violation charges against the company earlier this month for rejecting union proposals without counter-offering or addressing worker complaints.
Ortberg highlighted recent milestones for the defense programs during the earnings call, such as beginning assembly on the first production representative T-7A test aircraft and delivering the 100th KC-46 tanker. The CEO also highlighted Boeing netting more than $400 million on contracts for the U.S. Navy in August to repair F-18 landing gear and a $2.8 billion contract in July to modernize the Space Force’s nuclear control satellites as major wins.
Earlier this month, Boeing was awarded $2.7 billion in multi-year contracts to ramp up production of Patriot Advanced Capability‑3 seeker missiles for the military. Boeing reported $6.9 billion in defense revenue in the third quarter, a 25% increase over the prior year.
“We still have work to get these programs through the development phase, and as I’ve said before, you’re never done until you’re done,” Ortberg said.
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