A labor strike at Boeing showed no signs of ending Friday, as the walkout by 33,000 union machinists entered its eighth day and the company started rolling furloughs of nonunion employees to conserve cash.
Federal mediators joined talks between Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers this week, but company and union officials reported that little progress was made during the first two sessions.
“While we are disappointed the discussions didn’t lead to more progress, we remain very committed to reaching an agreement as soon as possible that recognizes the hard work of our employees and ends the work stoppage in the Pacific Northwest,” Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a note to employees.
The union said no further talks have been scheduled.
The walkout started Sept. 13, when members of a regional district of the IAM union voted 96% in favor of a strike after they rejected a proposed contract that would have raised their pay by 25% over four years. Workers say they want raises of 40% and a restoration of traditional pension benefits that were eliminated about a decade ago.
Union leaders, who recommended approval of the contract offer, pivoted quickly and surveyed the rank-and-file to learn what they want in a new contract.
The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service met with both sides Tuesday and Wednesday, but mediation ended without a resolution.
“While we remain open to further discussions, whether directly or through mediation, currently, there are no additional dates scheduled,” IAM District 751 officials said.
The strike mostly involves workers at factories in the Puget Sound area of Washington state, and it will quickly affect Boeing’s balance sheet. The company gets much of its cash when it delivers new planes. The strike has stopped production of 737s, 777s and 767s that Boeing was delivering at a rate of nearly one per day.
Ortberg, who became the aerospace giant's chief executive early last month, announced this week that the company's money-saving steps would include furloughing managers and other nonunion employees.
Terry Muriekes, who has worked at Boeing for 38 years, picketed outside the assembly plant in Everett, Washington, where 777s and 767s are built, and noted the rolling furloughs.
“I’ve never seen Boeing do that before. They might be feeling the pinch, feeling the hurt a little bit, you know — trying to save some money after spending so much money on four CEOs in 10 years that all walked away with multiple golden parachutes,” said Muriekes, who went through four previous Boeing strikes, including the last one, in 2008. ”The company is doing what it has to do, I suppose."
Nearby, Bill Studerus, a 39-year Boeing veteran, carried a “Strike” sign and an American flag.
“When you’re on strike, you have no income, so that is what is challenging for all of us, no matter what age you are,” Studerus said. “My heart tells me that hopefully this this will end soon. I mean, we all want to get back to work and we all want to be the Boeing family that we always have been.”
Boeing's cost-saving moves, which also include a hiring freeze, restrictions on travel, and a 25% salary cut for top executives, will cut across the company's airplane, defense and space, and global-services businesses.
Tens of thousands of nonunion workers will be forced to take one unpaid week off every four weeks under the furlough plan. Ortberg said activities related to safety, quality and customer support would continue, as would production of the 787 Dreamliner, a large plane that is built by nonunion workers in South Carolina.
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace said its board rejected a company request to include the 19,000 Boeing employees it represents in the furloughs. President John Dimas said the union — Boeing's second-biggest after the IAM — saw no compelling reason to alter its contract, which prohibits furloughs.
“To repair its balance sheet, Boeing needs to make striking machinists an offer that would end the current dispute and put them back to work,” Dimas said.
Concern about a cash crunch is prompting ratings agencies to consider downgrading Boeing’s credit to non-investment or junk status, a move that would embarrass Boeing and increase its borrowing costs.
Boeing had $58 billion in debt and $11 billion in cash on June 30, according to a regulatory filing. Chief Financial Officer Brian West said the company burned through $4.3 billion in the second quarter. The company delivered 83 commercial planes in July and August, almost as many as it did in the entire second quarter, but that faster pace will stop if the strike lasts very long.
Manuel Valdes in Everett, Washington, contributed to this report.
A strike sign is waved at union machinist picket line near Boeing's factory in Everett, Washington, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
Union machinist Bill Studerus holds a picket sign and an American flag near Boeing's factory in Everett, Washington, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
Union machinists and supporters wave picket signs in Everett, Washington, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, near a Boeing factory. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
A strike sign is waved on the union machinist picket line near Boeing's factory in Everett, Washington, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Valdes)
The path for the NFL's Washington Commanders to return to the nation’s capital is clear after an on-again, off-again saga in Congress ended early Saturday with a postmidnight reprieve.
The U.S. Senate passed a resolution to transfer the land including old RFK Stadium from the federal government to the District of Columbia. The D.C. Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium Campus Revitalization Act passed by voice vote at roughly 1:15 a.m. after more than a year of lobbying and support from Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., district Mayor Muriel Bowser, Commanders controlling owner Josh Harris and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“We are extremely grateful that our elected officials have come together on a bipartisan basis to give Washington, D.C., the opportunity to decide on the future of the RFK Stadium site," Harris said. "This bill will create an equal playing field so that all potential future locations for the home of the Washington Commanders can be fairly considered and give our franchise the opportunity to provide the best experience for all of our fans.”
The RFK Stadium land provision was part of Congress’ initial short-term spending bill Tuesday before it was torpedoed by President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the latter of whom amplified misinformation about the site on his social media platform X. Two versions of the House's slimmed-down bill, including the one that passed Friday night to avoid a government shutdown, did not include it.
Giving the local government control of the land for the next 99 years allows for the decaying husk of the old stadium to be torn down and the site redeveloped for any number of things. One of the possibilities is a football stadium and surrounding entertainment options at the franchise's former home.
Bowser called it “a win for D.C., for our region and for America.”
“Everybody loves a good comeback story — and that’s D.C.’s story,” she said.
All that awaits is President Joe Biden's signature to become law. Comer went as far as saying that Senate passage of the bill is “a historic moment for our nation's capital.”
“If Congress failed to act today, this decaying land in Washington would continue to cost taxpayers a fortune to maintain,” he said. “Revitalizing this RFK Memorial Stadium site has been a top economic priority for the city, and I am proud to have partnered with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to get this bill across the finish line and to the president’s desk. This bipartisan success is a testament to the House Oversight Committee’s unwavering effort to protect taxpayers and our full commitment to ensuring a capital that is prosperous for residents and visitors for generations to come.”
Playing in Washington again is no sure thing. The Commanders are considering places in the district, Maryland and Virginia to build a stadium in the coming years.
Their lease at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, runs through 2027. Harris called 2030 a “reasonable target” for a new stadium.
The team played at RFK Stadium 2 miles (3.22 kilometers) east of the Capitol from 1961-96 before moving to Maryland. Harris and several co-owners, including Mitch Rales and Mark Ein, grew up as Washington football fans during that era, which included the glory days of three Super Bowl championships from 1982-91.
Part of the way the provision got into the bill initially involved an agreement between the team and Maryland to tear down the current stadium in a timely fashion and redevelop the site with a project of equal economic impact, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press earlier this week on condition of anonymity because the deal was not being publicized.
After the Senate greenlit the RFK Stadium land transfer, Maryland Sens. Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen, both Democrats, said they continued to believe their state's partnership with the team should continue long into the future.
“After working to level the financial playing field, and receiving assurances that should the team move they will redevelop the existing site in a manner that meets the needs of the community, tonight we supported the proposed land transfer legislation,” Cardin and Van Hollen said. "We have always supported the District’s effort to control its own land, and through regional discussions and cooperation, our concerns with this proposal have been addressed.”
The team has played games in Maryland since 1997 and practices in Ashburn, Virginia, not far from Dulles International Airport.
A return to the district would be another victory for Bowser, who on Thursday celebrated the start of an $800 million downtown arena renovation that is keeping the NBA's Wizards and NHL's Capitals in town. At that news conference, she took aim at Musk for sharing incorrect information on X, formerly Twitter, about taxpayers footing the bill for a new stadium.
“It was stated that the (continuing resolution) contains $3 billion for a stadium,” Bowser said. "All wrong. There are no federal dollars related to the transfer of RFK, and in fact the legislation does not require or link at all to a stadium. We’re talking about how the District can invest in removing blight.”
Musk reshared an inaccurate post saying: “Buried in the 1,547-page omnibus bill is a provision to facilitate a $3 billion NFL stadium in Washington, D.C." with the message, “This should not be funded by your tax dollars!”
The bill specifically prohibits the use of federal funds for a stadium on the site, “including training facilities, offices, and other structures necessary to support a stadium.”
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
FILE - A vehicle pushes up pikes of snow after trucks dump their loads of snow in the parking lots of RFK Stadium in Washington, Monday, Jan. 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
