Boeing and striking workers to resume negotiations ‘next week’

A man is seen using a mobile phone.
File: Aircraft silhouette. Nicolas Economou / NurPhoto / NurPhoto via AFP
File: A Pitbull. JOEL ROBINE / AFP
 
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WASHINGTON – Talks between Boeing and striking US factory workers are due to resume early next week under a federal mediator after workers voted overwhelmingly to reject an earlier proposal from the embattled aviation giant.
Thousands of Boeing factory workers in the United States walked off the job on Friday over the pay dispute, its first strike in 16 years.
Union leaders called for the strike to start just after midnight, shortly after hourly workers in the Seattle region in the Pacific Northwest spurned the tentative contract with 94.6 percent of the vote, and to strike with 96 percent. 
The strike shuttered two major plane assembly plants for the 737 MAX and 777 in the Puget Sound region and sidelines some 33,000 workers, further delaying the financially stressed company’s turnaround efforts.
“We sent an overwhelmingly large message to Boeing that they cannot continue to treat us this poorly,” Mike Corsetti, who has worked at Boeing for 15 years, told AFP Friday afternoon as he picketed in front of the Everett factory.
Thursday’s vote was a decisive rejection of a deal line workers said was far less generous than depicted by Boeing executives, marking the latest show of defiance by unions following earlier major strikes in the auto and entertainment industries.
Boeing, led by new CEO Kelly Ortberg, had hoped a 25-percent wage hike over four years and a commitment to invest in the Puget Sound region would be enough.
But rank-and-file workers described it as a slap in the face after more than a decade of nearly stagnant wages.
Late on Friday, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) said it had been in contact with both parties and supported their return to the negotiating table.
“As part of the effort to resolve the current labor dispute and end the work stoppage, which began at 12:01 am PDT this morning, the parties will resume meetings early next week,” said a FMCS statement.