Joe Biden congratulates company and union for reaching a deal, after direct mediation by the White House.
By Jasper Jolly, The Guardian
Boeing’s US west coast factory workers have accepted a new contract offer, ending a bitter seven-week strike that halted most jet production and deepened a financial crisis at the troubled aircraft manufacturer.
The workers’ union said on Monday that members voted 59% in favour of the new contract, which includes a 38% pay rise spread over four years, easing pressure on the new Boeing chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, after two previous offers were voted down in recent weeks.
“This is a victory. We can hold our heads high,” the union’s lead negotiator, Jon Holden, told members after the results were announced. “Now it’s our job to get back to work.”
The end of the first strike in 16 years by Boeing’s largest union is welcome relief for a company that has lurched from one setback to the next since a door panel blew off a near-new 737 Max plane in mid-air in January. Before that happened, Boeing had been trying to ramp up production after years of crisis after two fatal crashes and the coronavirus pandemic.
Boeing shares rose by 1.9% in pre-market trading.
In a message to Boeing employees, Ortberg said he was pleased the union had ratified a deal.
“While the past few months have been difficult for all of us, we are all part of the same team,” he said. “We will only move forward by listening and working together. There is much work ahead to return to the excellence that made Boeing an iconic company.”
About 33,000 machinists who work on the bestselling 737 Max jet, as well as the 767 and 777 wide-body airliners, have been on strike since 13 September. The dispute is likely to affect US economic growth as Boeing is the US’s largest exporter.
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