Boeing Factory Workers Go on Strike After Rejecting Contract Offer
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Aircraft assembly workers walked off the job early Friday at Boeing factories near Seattle and elsewhere after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative contract that would have increased wages by 25% over four years. The strike started at 12:01 a. m. PDT, less than three hours after the local branch of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers announced 96% of voting workers rejected the proposed contract and 96% approved the work stoppage, easily surpassing a two-thirds requirement. The labor action involves 33,000 Boeing machinists, most of them in Washington state, and is expected to shut down production of the company's best-selling airline planes.