The strike of more than 30,000 Boeing workers at factories on the west coast of the United States entered its fourth day this Monday (16), and company and union negotiators are preparing for a round of negotiations on the employment contract this Tuesday, Friday (17).
Boeing’s largest union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), voted last week against a contract that called for 25% pay increases over four years but eliminated annual performance bonuses.
The IAM said on Saturday that union leaders would meet US government mediators and Boeing on Tuesday to resume labour talks.
John Holden, the union’s chief negotiator, said workers want Boeing to raise its pay offer and reinstate a defined-benefit pension that was taken away a decade ago in exchange for maintaining aircraft production in Washington state.
Two union sources told Reuters they did not expect Boeing to reinstate the old pension, but that the requirement could be used to negotiate higher company pension contributions and higher pay.
This is the eighth strike since the formation of the Boeing branch of the IAM in the 1930s; the previous two strikes, in 2008 and 2005, lasted 57 and 28 days respectively.
Reuters spoke to five workers who were using these previous strikes as a reference for their financial planning, since they would not receive their salary during the strike. The union offers strikers US$250 (R$1,300) per week.
On Friday, risk ratings agencies Fitch and Moody’s joined S&P Global Ratings in warning that a prolonged strike could downgrade Boeing, which has debts of US$60 billion (about R330.3 billion).
