Boeing factories to resume production

03 November 2008

Seattle: Boeing's commercial plane manufacturing factories will come back to life with the return of around 27,000 workers who struck work almost eight weeks ago. The strike has had more than just a minimal impact on Boeing's financials and delivery schedules. 

Members of the striking International Association of Machinists voted overwhelmingly to end the strike that had brought work at Boeing to a grinding halt, clipped profits, stalled deliveries, and also created a ripple effect across the industry felt by most of the company's suppliers across the world.
 
The workers who have been on strike since early September, are now expected to return to their workstations and assembly lines on Sunday night.

Boeing's factories have been closed since 6 September, when machinists walked out after failing to resolve a number differences with the company, including outsourcing of work and job security. The strike is estimated to have cost Boeing around $100 million per day in terms of deferred revenue and production delays and has also pushed back deliveries of the already-delayed Boeing 787 Dreamliner. 

Union members inked a new deal with Boeing after voting to bring the strike to an end. Around 74 per cent of the 27,000 workers at plants in Washington State, Oregon and Kansas voted in favor of the new agreement, which was reached after five days of discussions in Washington. 

A union statement said the new deal would give workers at Boeing an ''opportunity to share in the extraordinary success this company has achieved over the past several years."  It also said the deal recognises the need to act with foresight to protect the next generation of aerospace jobs, and that ''these members helped make Boeing the company it is today, and they have every right to be a part of its future."

The union says that the new contract with Boeing protects more than 5,000 factory jobs, prevents the outsourcing of certain positions and preserves health care benefits. The contract will also allow pay increases to be spread over four years in place of three, which had been offered previously.