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More than three thousand Boeing defence workers <\/b>went on strike on Monday, in a fresh blow to the embattled aviation giant.<\/p>\n
It comes after union members at operations in Missouri and Illinois, who build F-15 fighter jets and other military aircraft, voted against the firm’s latest offer over pay, work schedules and pensions.<\/p>\n
“We’re disappointed our employees rejected an offer that featured 40% average wage growth”, Dan Gillian, who is the vice president of Boeing’s Air Dominance unit, said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Boeing is struggling to turn itself around after a series of problems, including safety issues and a damaging almost eight-week walkout<\/a> by passenger plane workers last year.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The walkout <\/b>is being led by a local branch of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) based in St Louis, where Boeing’s defence manufacturing hub is located.<\/p>\n “Members have spoken loud and clear, they deserve a contract that reflects their skill, dedication, and the critical role they play in our nation’s defence,” Tom Boelling, a top official from the union, said in a statement.<\/p>\n “We stand shoulder to shoulder with these working families as they fight for fairness and respect on the job.”<\/p>\n It is the <\/b>first walkout at Boeing’s defence business since 1996, when work stopped for more than three months.<\/p>\n But last week Boeing’s chief executive Kelly Ortberg downplayed the potential impact of the walkout.<\/p>\n He highlighted that it would be a lot smaller than a strike last year involving around 30,000 passenger jet workers that cost the firm billions of dollars.<\/p>\n “I wouldn’t worry too much about the implications of the strike. We’ll manage our way through that,” said Mr Ortberg.<\/p>\n IAM is one of America’s largest unions, representing roughly 600,000 members in the aerospace, defence, shipbuilding and manufacturing industries.<\/p>\n Boeing has been hit by a series of crises in recent years, including two fatal crashes and a dramatic mid-air blowout of a piece of one of its planes.<\/p>\n In 2018, a Boeing 737 crashed after taking off from Jakarta<\/a>, Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board. A few months later, another 157 people died when a Boeing plane crashed shortly after take-off in Ethiopia<\/a>.<\/p>\n Separately in 2024, a panel fitted over an unused emergency exit of a Boeing 737 Max came off mid-flight<\/a>.<\/p>\n The company delivered just 348 aircraft<\/a> to its customers last year, its lowest output since the pandemic.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n