>“We were threatened by a company that was crippled, dying, bleeding on the ground, and us as one of the biggest unions in the country couldn’t even extract two-thirds of our demands from them. This is humiliating,” she said.
Yeah. I never expected the pensions to return, sadly. But 38% over 4 year after a 2 month walkout seems like this strike more or less settled.
For reference:
>Machinists voted down another offer — 35% raises over four years, and still no revival of pensions — on Oct. 23, the same day that Boeing reported a third-quarter loss of more than $6 billion.
I can't blame them at the end of the day because mouths need to be fed, but this paints a grim picture in my eyes. The only way this can be salvaged is if someone in the background is giving other deals like what happened with the train strike (which we wouldn't hear about for months on end).
Would I bet on Boeing being alive in 40 years? Not really, not without a huge overhaul in their business. Would I bet on them being alive in 15 years when I retire? Probably.
They did get a pay raise, but the main issue was over paid sick days and this was denied.
My only small sympathy is that this was still at the tail end of the pandemic. So the strike could have legitimately made things really bad and accelerated a recession.
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Good news: There were still negotiations, and mid-february 2023 a few unions announces a deal that would give them 4 sick days + 3 personal days to convert to sick days. They apparently credit the senate for putting pressure on the railroads to allow this.
So despite calling off the strikes, there was essentially more negotiations behind the scene to prevent long term damages to morale (i.e. workers simply retiring early or otherwise leaving the industry).