Machinists strike Boeing again

Seattle

For the second time in a year, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union has struck Boeing, this time in the St. Louis area. The 3,200 members of IAM District 837 have been striking plants in St. Louis; St. Charles, Missouri; and Mascoutah, Illinois, since Aug. 3. The rising cost of living and the threat of more inflation have led to the walkout, along with Boeing’s forced pay freezes in past contracts.

The Machinists voted down two of Boeing’s contract proposals by large margins before walking out. Boeing has claimed it offered the workers a 20% pay hike, but strikers say that many workers will only receive a 12% increase in total under Boeing’s four-year proposal. The company even claimed it offered the workers a 40% wage increase, but the union has scoffed at that as a lie. 

Boeing management has arrogantly refused to negotiate with the IAM since the beginning of the strike. Missouri and Illinois workers say they are in it for the long haul, after workers at Boeing plants in South Carolina and Seattle plants received larger pay raises than what Boeing offered the current strikers.

The St. Louis area plants make bomber planes for Pentagon wars and are Boeing’s main military production plants. This puts the workers in an adversarial position with both the anti-labor Pentagon and Boeing. These two behemoth operations work in sync and are vicious enemies of the workers in the U.S. — and the freedom-loving workers of Palestine.