Boeing Has the Upper Hand in the Latest Labor Strike
About 3,200 defense workers in the St. Louis area don’t have the same leverage that their commercial-plane colleagues did last year.
Don’t expect a sense of urgency on the company’s part.
Photographer: Neeta Satam/Bloomberg
Boeing Co. resumed talks on Monday with union leaders to end a strike that most investors aren’t paying much attention to. This is a problem for the 3,200 employees who rejected a company offer that provided an all-in 40% average compensation increase over four years and walked off the job on Aug. 4.
The striking workers help build aircraft, including the F-15 and, among other things, produce kits that turn dumb bombs into smart ones in facilities near St. Louis, Missouri. This labor struggle has drawn little publicity compared with the high-profile strike at the end of last year that shut down commercial aircraft production for 53 days.