Boeing Braces for Strike After Midwest Fighter Jet Workers Reject Contract
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story reported that the tentative deal offered a 20% wage increase over the four-year term of the contract. We regret the error.
Boeing Co.’s defense division is catching flak from its workers. The International Machinist and Aerospace Workers union announced Sunday, July 27, that 3,200 workers at three Boeing factories in Missouri and Illinois had collectively rejected the company’s latest contract offer.
That tentative deal, according to information posted to the IAM local 837’s website, featured “40% wage increases on average,” with the average annual wage increasing to $102,600 from $75,000 — an increase of 36.8%. The deal also offered a $5,000 lump ratification bonus and accelerated schedules for new workers’ vacation and sick leave.
Under existing terms of employment, the represented workers now enter a weeklong “cooling-off period” before a strike can begin, but Dan Gillan, a senior Boeing executive, said the company is “preparing for a strike” in a statement.
The looming labor action is the latest to threaten Boeing since late 2024, when the IAM called a strike of its Puget Sound-area commercial jet factories that wound up lasting nearly three months.
A statement from the IAM, which had endorsed the tentative agreement, said the new contract “fell short” of union members’ priorities without naming specifics. “The IAM Union remains committed to achieving a fair contract that meets the needs of our members,” the unsigned statement read, adding the group “looks forward to returning to the bargaining table with Boeing’s leadership.”
Gillan, representing the company, said there are no talks currently scheduled with the union.
