Striking Boeing factory workers say they are ready to hold out for a better contract

SEATTLE (AP) — Blue-collar workers from Boeing walked picket lines in the Pacific Northwest instead of building airplanes on Friday after they overwhelmingly rejected a proposed contract that would have raised their wages by 25% over four years.

The strike by 33,000 machinists will not disrupt airline flights anytime soon, but it is expected to shut down production of Boeing's best-selling jetliners, marking yet another setback for a company already dealing with billions of dollars in financial losses and a damaged reputation.

The company said it was taking steps to conserve cash while its CEO looks for ways to come up with a contract that the unionized factory workers will accept.

Late Friday, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service said it would convene new talks early next week.

“FMCS has been in contact with both IAM and Boeing to support their return to the negotiation table and commends the parties on their willingness to meet and work towards a mutually acceptable resolution,” the agency said in a statement.

Boeing stock fell 3.7% Friday, bringing its decline for the year to nearly 40%.

The strike started soon after a regional branch of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers reported that in a Thursday vote, 94.6% of participating members rejected a contract offer that the union’s own bargaining committee had endorsed, and 96% voted to strike.

Shortly after midnight, striking workers stood outside the Boeing factory in Renton, Washington, with signs reading, “Have you seen the damn housing prices?” Car horns honked and a boom box played songs including Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do.”

Many of the workers who spoke to reporters said they considered the wage offer inadequate given how much the cost of living has increase in the Pacific Northwest. John Olson said his pay had increased just 2% during his six years at Boeing.

“The last contract we negotiated was 16 years ago, and the company is basing the wage increases off of wages from 16 years ago,” the 45-year-old toolmaker said. “They don’t even keep up with the cost of inflation.”

Others said they were unhappy about the company's decision to change the criteria used to calculate annual bonuses.

The machinists make $75,608 per year on average, not counting overtime, and that would have risen to $106,350 by the end of the proposed four-year contract, according to Boeing.

Under the rejected contract, workers would have received $3,000 lump sum payments and a reduced share of health care costs in addition to pay raises. Boeing also met a key union demand by promising to build its next new plane in Washington state.

However, the offer fell short of the union’s initial demand for pay raises of 40% over three years. The union also wanted to restore traditional pensions that were axed a decade ago but settled for an increase in new Boeing contributions to employee 401(k) retirement accounts of up to $4,160 per worker.

The head of the union local, IAM District 751 President Jon Holden, said the union would survey members to find out which issues they want to stress when negotiations resume. Boeing responded to the strike announcement by saying it was “ready to get back to the table to reach a new agreement.”

“The message was clear that the tentative agreement we reached with IAM leadership was not acceptable to the members. We remain committed to resetting our relationship with our employees and the union,” the company said in a statement.

Boeing Chief Financial Officer Brian West, speaking Friday at an investor conference in California, said the company was disappointed that it had a deal with union leadership, only to see it rejected by rank-and-file workers.

During the strike, Boeing will lose an important source of cash: Airlines pay most of the purchase price when they take delivery of a new plane. West said Boeing — which has about $60 billion in total debt — is now looking at ways to conserve cash. He declined to estimate the financial impact of the strike, saying it would depend on how long the walkout lasts.

Before the strike, new CEO Kelly Ortberg gathered feedback from workers during visits to factory floors, and he "is already at work to get an agreement that meets and addresses their concerns,” West said.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden administration officials have contacted Boeing and the union.

“We believe that they need to negotiate in good faith and work towards an agreement that gives employees benefits that they deserve. It would make the company stronger as well,” she said.

Very little has gone right for Boeing this year, from a panel blowing out and leaving a gaping hole in one of its passenger jets in January to NASA leaving two astronauts in space rather sending them home on a problem-plagued Boeing spacecraft.

The striking machinists assemble the 737 Max, Boeing’s best-selling airliner, along with the 777 jet and the 767 cargo plane. The walkout likely will not stop production of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, which are built by nonunion workers in South Carolina.

The strike is another challenge for Ortberg, who just six weeks ago was given the job of turning around a company that has lost more than $25 billion in the last six years and fallen behind European rival Airbus.

Ortberg made a last-ditch effort to salvage a deal that had unanimous backing from the union’s negotiators. He told machinists Wednesday that “no one wins” in a walkout and a strike would put Boeing’s recovery in jeopardy and raise more doubt about the company in the eyes of its airline customers.

“For Boeing, it is no secret that our business is in a difficult period, in part due to our own mistakes in the past,” he said. “Working together, I know that we can get back on track, but a strike would put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers and hurting our ability to determine our future together.”

Ortberg faced a difficult position, according to union leader Holden, because machinists were bitter about stagnant wages and concessions they have made since 2008 on pensions and health care to prevent the company from moving jobs elsewhere.

“This is about respect, this is about the past, and this is about fighting for our future,” Holden said in announcing the strike.

The suspension of airplane production could prove costly for beleaguered Boeing, depending on how long it runs. The last Boeing strike, in 2008, lasted eight weeks and cost the company about $100 million daily in deferred revenue. A 1995 strike lasted 10 weeks.

Before the tentative agreement was announced Sunday, Jefferies aerospace analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu estimated a strike would cost the company about $3 billion based on the 2008 strike plus inflation and current airplane-production rates.

A.J. Jones, a quality inspector who has been at Boeing for 10 years, was among the workers picketing on a corner near Boeing's Renton campus. He said he was glad union members had decided to hold out for more pay.

“I’m not sure how long this strike is going to take, but however long it takes, we will be here until we get a better deal,” Jones said.

Koenig reported from Dallas. Darlene Superville in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Boeing Machinists Union member Stephanie Corona waves to passing traffic while on the picket line at the Everett plant, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Boeing Machinists Union members and supporters wave to traffic on the picket line at the Renton assembly plant, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Boeing Machinists Union members from left, Brent Roberts, Ha Nguyen, Myles Simms and Rich Russell, wave to passing traffic while on the picket line at the Renton assembly plant, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Boeing Machinists Union member Nico Padilla, front, and others wave to passing traffic on the picket line at the Everett plant, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Shelby, an 11-month-old golden retriever, wears an International Association of Machinists shirt while sitting with owner and Boeing employee Justin Burford to picket after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract offer and go on strike Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, outside the company's factory in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Boeing employee Dianna Vu, 20, a grade 6 mechanic, holds a picket sign with coworkers after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract offer and go on strike Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, outside the company's factory in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A driver holds a sign out their window as they drive by Boeing workers picketing after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract offer and go on strike Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, outside the company's factory in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Boeing employee Ritz Amador, 40, who works as a customer coordinator, wears a "Make Boeing Great Again" cap while picketing after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract offer and go on strike Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, outside the company's factory in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Boeing Machinists Union member Andrei Cojocaru waves at passing traffic from the picket line at the Renton assembly plant, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Boeing Machinists Union members Dave Hendrickson, left, and Steven Wilson, right, on the picket line at the Renton assembly plant, Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/John Froschauer)

Signs encouraging International Aerospace Machinists union members to vote no on a contract offer with airplane maker Boeing, are pictured at the union's hall, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

International Aerospace Machinists members count votes on a contract offer by airplane maker Boeing, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

International Aerospace Machinists members count votes on a contract offer by airplane maker Boeing, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

Boeing workers wave at a car honking in support while they picket after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract offer and go on strike Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A Boeing worker wears a mask while holding a "happy strike day" sign after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract offer and go on strike Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, outside the company's factory in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Boeing workers picket after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract offer and go on strike Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, outside the company's factory in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A Boeing worker wears a mask with a digital "strike" sign as employees picket after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract offer and go on strike Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, outside the company's factory in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

LONDON (AP) — A car-ramming at a Christmas market in Germany, which police are treating as an attack, is the latest in a grim series of events in which vehicles have been used as deadly weapons.

There have been a spate of such attacks over the past decade, some committed by groups but most by individuals. The motives – where they could be established – have varied widely. Some were inspired by Islamic militant groups such as al-Qaida and ISIS, which encouraged followers to carry out low-cost, low-tech attacks with cars and trucks. Others have been linked to mental illness, far-right extremism and online misogyny.

What law-enforcement authorities term “vehicle as a weapon attacks” have reshaped cities around the world, as planners erect concrete barriers around public spaces and build anti-vehicle obstacles into new developments.

Here are some major vehicle attacks:

MAGDEBURG, Germany, Dec. 20. 2024 — At least five people are killed and more than 200 injured when a car slams into a Christmas market in eastern Germany. The suspect, who was arrested, is a 50-year-old doctor originally from Saudi Arabia who had expressed anti-Muslim views and support for the far-right AFD party.

ZHUHAI, China, Nov. 11, 2024 — A 62-year-old driver rams his car into people exercising at a sports complex in southern China, killing 35 people in the country’s deadliest mass slaying in years. Authorities said the perpetrator was upset about his divorce but offered few other details.

LONDON, Ontario, June 6, 2021 — Four members of a Muslim family die when an attacker hits them with a pickup truck while they are out for a walk, in what Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calls “a terrorist attack, motivated by hatred.” White nationalist attacker Nathaniel Veltman was sentenced to life in prison.

TORONTO, April 23, 2018 — A 25-year-old Canadian man, Alek Minassian, drives a rented van into mostly female pedestrians on Yonge St., the main thoroughfare in Toronto, killing 10 people and injuring 16. Minassian told police he belonged to the online “incel” community of sexually frustrated men.

NEW YORK, Oct. 31, 2017 — Sayfullo Saipov, an Islamic extremist from Uzbekistan, drives a pickup truck onto a popular New York City bike path, killing eight.

BARCELONA, Aug. 17, 2017 — A man driving a van slams into people on the Spanish city’s crowded Las Ramblas boulevard, killing 14 and injuring many others. Several members of the same cell carry out a similar vehicle attack in the nearby resort town of Cambrils before they are shot dead by police. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Virginia, Aug. 12, 2017 — During a “Unite the Right” rally, white supremacist James Alex Fields Jr. intentionally drives his car into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one woman and injuring dozens of people.

LONDON: March 22, 2017 — British man Khalid Masood rams an SUV into people on Westminster Bridge, killing four, before stabbing to death a policeman guarding the Houses of Parliament nearby. He is shot dead. June 3, 2017 — three attackers drive a van at pedestrians on London Bridge before stabbing people in nearby Borough Market. Eight people are killed and the attackers shot dead by police. June 19, 2017 — Darren Osborne, a man radicalized by far-right ideas, drives a van at worshippers outside a mosque in London’s Finsbury Park area, killing one man and injuring 15 people.

MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan 20, 2017 – Six people are killed and more than 30 injured when a car hits lunchtime crowds at a pedestrian mall in Australia’s second-largest city. Perpetrator James Gargasoulas is found to have been in a state of drug-induced psychosis.

BERLIN, December 19, 2016 — Anis Amri, a rejected asylum-seeker from Tunisia, plows a hijacked truck into a Christmas market in the German capital, killing 13 people and injuring dozens. The attacker is killed days later in a shootout in Italy.

NICE, France, July 14, 2016 — Tunisian-born French resident Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel drives a rented truck for more than a mile (almost 2 kilometers) along a packed seaside promenade in the French Riviera resort on the Bastille Day holiday, killing 86 people in the deadliest attack of its kind.

APELDOORN, Netherlands, April 28, 2009 – Former security guard Karst Tates drives a car into parade spectators in an attempt to hit an open-topped bus carrying members of the Dutch royal family. Six people are killed and Tates dies of injuries the next day, leaving his full motive a mystery.

CHAPEL HILL, North Carolina, March 3, 2006 — University of North Carolina graduate Mohammed Taheri-Azar drives an SUV into a crowd at the university, lightly injuring nine people, in a self-professed bid to avenge Muslim deaths overseas.

FILE - Injured people are treated in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday, Aug. 17, 2017 after a white van jumped the sidewalk in the historic Las Ramblas district, crashing into a summer crowd of residents and tourists. (AP Photo/Oriol Duran, File)

FILE - In this April 23, 2018, file photo, police stand near a damaged van after a van mounted a sidewalk crashing into pedestrians in Toronto. (Aaron Vincent Elkaim/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - Forensic officers move the van at Finsbury Park in north London, where a vehicle struck pedestrians in north London Monday, June 19, 2017. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2016 file photo the trailer of a truck stands beside destroyed Christmas market huts in Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, file)

FILE - In this July 14, 2016 file photo, authorities investigate a truck after it plowed through Bastille Day revelers in the French resort city of Nice, France, killing 86 people. (Sasha Goldsmith via AP, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, March 22, 2017 file photo, police secure the area on the south side of Westminster Bridge close to the Houses of Parliament in London. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham, File)

FILE - People fly into the air as a vehicle drives into a group of protesters demonstrating against a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., Saturday, Aug. 12, 2017. (Ryan M. Kelly/The Daily Progress via AP, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 20, 2016 file photo Christmas decoration sticks in the smashed window of the cabin of a truck which ran into a crowded Christmas market Monday evening killing several people in Berlin, Germany. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, file)