Talks between Boeing and striking union break down

Boeing and the union that represents 33,000 striking employees at the company say talks between the two have broken down and no new talks are scheduled.

Two days of federally mediated talks this week concluded with the two sides still far apart, said Stephanie Pope, the CEO of Boeing’s commercial airplanes unit, in a statement.

“The union made non-negotiable demands far in excess of what can be accepted if we are to remain competitive as a business,” she said in the statement to Boeing employees. “Given that position, further negotiations do not make sense at this point and our offer has been withdrawn.”

Members of the International Association of Machinists have been on strike since September 13, grinding operations at the troubled manufacturer to a halt. Credit analysts at Standard & Poor’s estimated Tuesday that the strike is costing the company $1 billion a month.

The IAM in a statement said Boeing is at fault for not making an offer that would be acceptable to its rank-and-file members. A previous tentative agreement between the union and Boeing ahead of the strike was rejected nearly unanimously by the members now on strike.

The rejected tentative deal would have given members raises totaling 25% over four years. The IAM’s statement late Tuesday said its surveys of membership made clear that the improved offer the company made to the union and released publicly two weeks ago, of an immediate 12% raise and total raises of 30% over the four-year life of the contract, was not acceptable to members either.

“The company was hell-bent on standing on the non-negotiated offer that was sent directly to the media on September 23,” said the union’s statement. “Your negotiating committee attempted to address multiple priorities that could have led to an offer we could bring to a vote, but the company wasn’t willing to move in our direction.”

Despite the breakdown in talks, both sides said they are eager and willing to return to the table.

The strike is not just about wages. Union members are angry that they lost the traditional pension plan that they had at Boeing until 10 years ago.

Members of the union narrowly agreed to give up that plan when the company was threatening to shift production of new planes to nonunion plants it was considering building outside of Washington state. Boeing dropped plans for those new nonunion plants after it won on pensions and other elements.

The company was doing well financially when it won concessions from the union in 2014. But it has been struggling for the last five years. Two fatal crashes, one in 2018 and one in 2019, led to a 20-month grounding of its best-sellling jet, the 737 Max, and core operating losses totaling more than $33 billion.

Boeing has also been dogged by repeated questions about the quality and safety of its planes, and it has agreed to plead guilty to federal criminal charges of deceiving the Federal Aviation Administration when seeking original approval to have the Max carry passengers.

Boeing on Tuesday said that it is trying to reach a deal with the union that will bring the strike to an end.

“Our team bargained in good faith and made new and improved proposals to try to reach a compromise, including increases in take-home pay and retirement,” said Pope’s statement.

But the union said Boeing refused to improve the publicly disclosed offer of two weeks ago.

“By refusing to bargain the offer sent to the media, the company made it harder to reach an agreement,” it said.

This story has been updated with additional reporting and context.