Boeing Co announced Tuesday that it had granted more time to the IAM union, whose more than 33,000 members have been on strike in the northwest United States since September 13, to study the offer it made the day before but which was rebuffed.
“This strike affects our teams and our region, and we believe our employees should have the opportunity to vote on our offer, which contains significant improvements in wages and benefits,” Boeing said in a statement.
“We have reached out to the union to give them more time and to offer logistical support once they decide to proceed with the vote,” he continued.
No new deadline has been set.
The American aircraft manufacturer presented its “best” offer on Monday, also described as “final”, including in particular a 30% salary increase over four years, compared to 25% in its previous proposal, and setting a deadline of Friday 11:59 p.m. for ratification by the strikers.
A few hours later, the union leadership deemed this new proposal insufficient – the first had been rejected by nearly 95% of union members on September 12.
He also denounced the fact that the offer was sent “directly to members and the media,” outside of the negotiations that had been open since March. A round of discussions took place on September 17 and 18, for the first time in the presence of federal mediators.
He also said that the deadline until Friday evening was too short to organise a consultation with the strikers, and that he had no intention of taking part in the vote without first consulting his members.
The group’s two main factories in Renton (producing the 737, its best-selling plane) and Everett (producing the 777 and housing several military programs) are among the sites that have been completely shut down for ten days.