Thousand of Boeing defense workers have decided to on strike after rejecting the latest contract offer.
According to Financial Times, around 3,200 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) working at Boeing defence manufacturing facilities in the St Louis area voted to reject Boeing’s latest four-year labour proposal.
“A strike will begin at midnight on Monday,” the union said in a statement on Sunday.
The workers build F-15 Eagle and F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets, as well as various missiles and munitions.
Boeing’s defence business, which has more than 19,000 employees, brought in about 29 per cent of the company’s $22.75bn second-quarter revenue.
The defence unit, which in March won the contract to build the US’s next generation F-47 fighter jet, has been improving its performance.
For the second quarter, it reported an operating profit of $110mn, compared with an operating loss of $913mn in the same period a year earlier.
Over the years, the defence business has been plagued by charges due to cost overruns on fixed-price contracts and production delays, including for two new Air Force One presidential jets.
The potential work stoppage comes less than a year after 33,000 workers at Boeing’s Washington state factories went on strike for two months, costing the company several billion dollars and halted production of the 737 Max commercial jet.
