Members of the St. Louis-area machinists union have struck Boeing locations in St. Louis, St. Charles and Mascoutah.
About 3,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837 voted to reject a revised four-year contract proposal from Boeing on Sunday, authorizing a strike. This came after they rejected the first contract on July 27.
Lathaniel Johnson, an assembly mechanic at Boeing in Berkeley, said he is prepared to strike for as “long as it takes” to get a fair contract.
“We're in for the long haul,” Johnson said. “That's what unions are. Unity.”
Boeing’s modified contract kept the general wage increase at 20% over four years, which Johnson said was not enough. It also made no change to its original vacation, sick leave or health care provisions.
The new contract removed an alternative workweek schedule proposal, which would have enabled the company to schedule employees for four consecutive 10-hour shifts Monday to Friday, or three consecutive 12-hour shifts Friday to Monday, that union members were strongly against. It added a 50 cents-per-hour pay increase with an additive for good attendance for employees at the top of the pay scale and changed the pension multiplier to $10 the first year instead of $5 in the second and third years.
Many of the provisions in the contract would benefit the more experienced employees. Chevy Williams, a flight operations mechanic at Boeing’s Berkeley location who has been working for the company for nearly 18 years, said he is striking in solidarity with his younger colleagues.
“I was once a new hire myself,” Williams said. “I know in the past we have just taken what they offer, and we haven’t really fought back and demanded that they compromise and meet us halfway.”
And the strikers weren’t alone. Ryan Dieboll, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, joined union members picketing outside the Berkeley facility.
“We're in full support of the striking Boeing workers, and we're doing all that we can to support them,” Dieboll said.
District 751’s strike in Seattle last year ended after seven weeks with the approval of a 38% wage increase.
Johnson said that he wants an agreement with Boeing.
“I just hope one day that the union and the company can come together and negotiate,” Johnson said, “that we can end this and we can continue building the best fighters in the world.”
