Boeing Machinists on Strike

Action shuts down plane production
By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 6, 2008 7:13 AM CDT
Boeing Machinists on Strike
Picketers, including Nathan Hoppe, 14, holding the American Flag, pose in front of the Machinists Union Hall outside Boeing's Everett, Wash., airplane assembly facility today.   (AP Photo/Clint Karlsen)

Some 27,000 Boeing machinists launched a strike early this morning after failing to reach an agreement with the company on a new contract, reports Reuters. A boisterous crowd of
more than 100 workers gathered near the entrance of Boeing's factory in Everett, Washington, whistling, honking and waving picket signs as the strike started. The action followed two days of fruitless emergency talks with a federal mediator after the union rejected Boeing's latest offer.

Boeing said it would keep its plants open, but its massive assembly lines and plane production will stop. The strike could cost the company about $100 million in revenue a day. No further talks are planned. Machinists earn about $65,000 a year with overtime. They're seeking a 13% wage hike over three years and a rollback of provisions that allow Boeing to outsource work.
(More Boeing stories.)

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