SEATTLE (AP) — Machinists at Boeing voted Thursday to go on strike, another setback for the giant aircraft maker whose reputation and finances have been battered and now faces a shutdown in production of its best-selling airline planes.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said 94.6% of voting workers rejected the contract, which would have raised pay 25% over four years, and 96% approved the strike, easily surpassing a two-thirds requirement.
The strike by 33,000 machinists was set to begin at one minute after midnight Friday morning.
“This is about respect, this is about the past, and this is about fighting for our future,” IAM District 751 President Jon Holden said in announcing the vote.
Boeing responded that it was “ready to get back to the table to reach a new agreement.”