Thousands of Boeing Employees Go on Strike

Thousands of unionized Boeing employees are conducting a massive strike that could bring the company's aircraft manufacturing line to a halt.

Boeing has over 150,000 employees, 33,000 of which are part of the International Association of Machinist (IAM) union. The union had been demanding for higher pay for the last few months, and IAM and Boeing had finally agreed to a huge deal that would provide employees with a 25% raise over four years. Union officials said that it was by far, the best deal they had ever managed to negotiate with Boeing. However, 95% of union members voted against the deal, and 96% voted to strike on Thursday.

Since then, it has been absolute chaos in America's aircraft industry-- Boeing supports around 1.6 million employees, including its 10,000 parts suppliers. Boeing will need to reach a decision on a new deal fast, as their production has come to a complete stop. Over half of the world's airplanes are made by the company, making them the United States' single largest exporter.

Strikers told reporters that they been expecting this to come for a while, as they had been treated unfairly and had been given measly salaries while higher-ups were raking in all of the profit. Because they knew a strike was coming, they had been saving up on money, and now have plenty of buffer to last through a long strike. This will just add on to Boeing's problem, as employees will be facing less financial distress during the strike.

Boeing management will be cringing after this incident-- strikes are not what they needed to help their financial problems. Boeing is currently $58 billion in debt and has pleaded guilty to defrauding the FAA, meaning that they are facing more challenges. They are also falling behind competitor Airbus for numerous reasons: the FAA's constant oversight is leading to a slower production line, and their existing planes are experiencing new issues every few months. This strike will bring their production line to a halt in some areas, and it will force them to move some production to non-unionized plants. While the strike will not affect day-to-day travel, it will cause even more delays in Boeing's production process. However, Airbus is no better right now: Here's why you need to wait 10 years for an Airbus plane if you ordered one today.