Boeing proposes 30% wage hike to striking workers, calls it its ‘final’ offer

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Boeing proposes 30% wage hike to striking workers, calls it its ‘final’ offer

By Allison Lampert

(Reuters) -Boeing upped its wage proposal to thousands of striking workers on Monday, offering a 30% general wage increase over four years in what it called its “best and final” offer as the strike drags on.

The U.S. planemaker also offered to reinstate a performance bonus, improve retirement benefits and double a ratification bonus to $6,000, if the workers accept by Friday, according to a letter sent to union officials by the company on Monday.

It is unclear if the new proposal will satisfy the 32,000-plus Seattle-area Boeing workers who went on strike on Sept. 13 for the first time in 16 years after roundly rejecting the planemaker’s previous offer.

A union spokesperson for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents the workers who build the planemaker’s best-selling 737 MAX jet and other planes, was not immediately available for comment. Last week, IAM International President Brian Bryant said the workers are “ready to ****** this as long as they have to, to get the contract that they deserve.”

Boeing has frozen hiring and started furloughs for thousands of U.S. employees to reduce costs. A prolonged strike could cost several billion dollars, fraying the planemaker’s already strained finances and threatening a downgrade of its credit rating.

The strike, Boeing’s first since 2008, is the latest event in a tumultuous year for the company that began with a January incident when a door panel detached from a new 737 MAX jet mid-air.

The earlier tentative deal between Boeing and the union offered a 25% raise over four years and a commitment that a new plane would be manufactured in the Seattle area if it were launched during the four-year agreement.

Boeing has planned for workers to take one week of furlough every four weeks on a rolling basis for the duration of the strike.

The extensive furloughs show new CEO Kelly Ortberg is preparing the company to weather a prolonged strike that may not be easily resolved given the anger among rank-and-file workers who want 40% higher pay and a performance bonus restored.

Boeing shares were up 2.6% in afternoon trading Monday.

(Reporting by Utkarsh Shetti in Bengaluru and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Alan Barona and Lisa Shumaker)

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