Modest Boeing strike hits Missouri and Illinois fighter jet plants

A few thousand Boeing defense employees responsible for fighter jet construction in Missouri and Illinois went on strike Monday.

The roughly 3,200 protesting workers from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union turned down a four-year contract offered to them days before the strike commenced, the AP reported.

The proposed contract would’ve given employees a raised average wage, which includes merit-based earnings, of 40% and a general wage increase of 20%. It also included a $5,000 ratification bonus along with increased vacation and sick leave, according to Reuters.

Dan Gillian, the Boeing Air Dominance vice president, expressed the company’s disappointment in the contract’s rejection, believing it resolved the employee’s grievances: “We are prepared for a strike and have fully implemented our contingency plan to ensure our non-striking workforce can continue supporting our customers.”

A union official, Sam Cicinelli, defended the workers, saying, “They deserve nothing less than a contract that keeps their families secure and recognizes their unmatched expertise.”

Boeing’s defense, space and security sector accounts for a third of the company’s overall revenue and is in the middle of its newest project of building the new F-47 fighter jet, the AP reported. The company won the contract in May when President Donald Trump chose Boeing over a competing brand.

This week’s strike is small compared to last year, when 33,000 employees picketed Boeing for seven weeks before being satisfied with a 38% pay raise, according to Reuters.

“The order of magnitude of this is much, much less than what we saw last fall,” CEO Kelly Ortberg said last week, the AP reported. “So we’ll manage through this. I wouldn’t worry too much about the implications of the strike.”