Photo: Flight Story
On Sunday, a union representing almost 2,500 workers at three St. Louis Boeing defense locations stated that the employees declined the firm’s defense contract deal and will conduct a strike at the locations beginning August 1.
“Boeing previously took away a pension from our members, and now the company is unwilling to adequately compensate our members’ 401(k) plan,” said the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union.
It further said union employees would not agree to an unfair and inequitable contract.
“We will not allow this company to put our members’ hard-earned retirements in jeopardy,” the union stated.
Employees at the three plants in Illinois and Missouri constructed the F-15, F-18, T-7 trainer, and the MQ-25 unmanned refueler.
On Sunday, Boeing stated that it “is disappointed with Sunday’s vote to reject a strong, highly competitive offer. We are activating our contingency plan to support continuity of operations in the event of a strike.”
Boeing had given an extra $3,000 ratification bonus if employees had agreed to the three-year contract by Sunday, instead of an earlier deal to make extra $1,000 yearly contributions to employees’ 401(k) plans.
Boeing’s 401(k) offer included a company match of employees’ contributions up to 10% of employees’ salaries with an automatic contribution of 2% for 2023 and 2024.
The current deal is scheduled to expire today, July 25.
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Boeing: Aerospace and Defense Company
As of 2022, Boeing’s corporate headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois. However, there are reported plans to transfer to Arlington, Virginia.
The defense company is divided into four primary departments: Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA), Boeing Defense, Space & Security (BDS), Boeing Global Services, and Boeing Capital.
The company gained an estimated $76.6 billion in sales by 2019 and is ranked 54th on the Fortune 500 list (2020), and sits in the 121st spot on the Fortune Global 500 list (2020).
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