Boeing mechanical engineers reject new labor contract and extend strike

Boeing machinists voted 64% against a new labor contract that would provide 35% wage increases over four years, their union said Wednesday, extending a more than five-week strike that has affected much of the company's aircraft production, concentrated in the Seattle area concentrated, brought to a standstill.

The rejection is another major setback for the company, which warned Wednesday that it would continue to burn cash through 2025 and reported a quarterly loss of $6 billion, its biggest since 2020.

New CEO Kelly Ortberg said reaching an agreement with machine builders would be a priority to get the company back on the right track from safety and quality crises.

Boeing's more than 32,000 machinists in Washington's Puget Sound area, Oregon and other locations walked off the job Sept. 13 after overwhelmingly voting against an earlier tentative deal that included a 25% pay raise . The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union had called for a 40% wage increase. It is the first strike by machinists since 2008.

The latest proposal, announced Saturday, included raises of 35% over four years, higher 401(k) contributions, $7,000 bonuses and other improvements.

Given the rising cost of living in the Puget Sound region, workers had pushed for higher wages. Some machinists were upset about losing their pension insurance in a contract they signed in 2014, but the last contract also did not provide for a pension.

In the new contract, Boeing agreed to build its next plane in the Pacific Northwest, which has also been a point of contention for union workers after the company moved all of its 787 Dreamliner production to a non-union factory in South Carolina.

The labor dispute is the latest in a long list of problems at Boeing that began the year when a door plug popped out of a crowded Boeing 737 Max 9, its best-selling plane, and regulators brought the company under renewed scrutiny.

The strike began as Boeing worked to ramp up production of the 737 and other aircraft.