Boeing feels little pain as strike at defence unit heads for 9th week

A strike by machinists at Boeing Defense in St. Louis reached 53 days, matching last year's walkout by fellow International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union members in the Northwest who make most of the company’s commercial jets.

- 

Last year’s strike ended with substantial concessions from Boeing.

This time around, management has refused to significantly improve upon offers already rejected by the roughly 3,200 machinists on strike since August 4 in the St. Louis area.

The union and the company are expected to resume contract negotiations on Monday with the help of a federal mediator, the union said.

Boeing faces far less economic pressure than it did during the 2024 strike because the current work stoppage largely affects military programs producing at low rates or still in testing rather than the company’s cash-cow 737 jetliner programme, AeroDynamic Advisory Managing Director Richard Aboulafia said.

He added that the US government has already paid for much of the equipment and components for fighter jets, reducing the financial sting of parts sitting idle during the stoppage.

“It’s hard to see a pain point for Boeing," he said. “They're banking on outlasting the other guy, and they might just get away with it.” For now, members are relying on a mix of $300 a week in strike benefits from the IAM, second jobs, and belt-tightening. The union sent Boeing a contract proposal that members overwhelmingly approved on September 19, according to union officials. Boeing leadership rejected any unilaterally proposed offer, the company told the union.