Duckworth Leads Call for Boeing to Negotiate with Workers and End Strike

Duckworth Leads Call for Boeing to Negotiate with Workers and End Strike

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] - U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) led U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) in calling on Boeing to bring the ongoing strike to an end with a proposal that provides fair compensation for its workers. In a letter to Boeing President and Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg, the Senators-all members of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee-urged Boeing to make good faith efforts to reach an agreement on a contract with striking workers and expressed concerns around the company's use of replacement workers and the implications for our military's safety.

"If you choose to proceed with replacement workers to complete these projects, you will be sacrificing the needs of the U.S. military in order to benefit the corporation's bottom line," the Senators wrote. "Rather than proceeding down this dangerous path, we urge you to rededicate yourself to meeting the needs of your current workers, who are a fount of experience, knowledge and professionalism. Now is the time to make a deal. Our military's effectiveness and our country's national security depends on it."

Since August, 3,200 members of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837 have been on strike after rejecting an insufficient employment contract proposal from Boeing. Workers in the St. Louis, Missouri, St. Charles, Missouri and Mascoutha, Illinois factories are responsible for production of military aircraft, including the F-15EX, F/A-18, T-7A, and MQ-25.

Full text of the letter is available on the Senator's website and below.

Dear Mr. Ortberg:

As we enter a third month of 3,200 workers on strike, we urge you to bring this strike to an end with an expedited resolution of the negotiation and the successful ratification of a proposal that pays these critical workers what they are worth while ensuring that Boeing is able to fulfill its mission and ensure that the men and women of our military have what they need.

While you continue to negotiate, we strongly urge you to take good faith steps like ensuring striking workers are able to take care of their health and their families' health, rather than kicking them off the company's health insurance and forcing them to obtain costly COBRA coverage.

Furthermore, we are deeply concerned that your decision to replace striking workers with permanent replacement workers and offer expedited training has implications for the quality and safety of your products that may affect the effectiveness of our military.

The St. Louis-area facilities are crucial to the construction of the new F-47 fighter jet and NGAD fighters. We strongly believe that the workers for those projects should be well qualified, fully experienced and fairly compensated. For existing projects, such as the F-15 Eagle and the F/A-18 Hornet, you are also unnecessarily endangering our warfighters by insisting on proceeding with an untrained and hastily recruited workforce.

If you choose to proceed with replacement workers to complete these projects, you will be sacrificing the needs of the U.S. military in order to benefit the corporation's bottom line. Rather than proceeding down this dangerous path, we urge you to rededicate yourself to meeting the needs of your current workers, who are a fount of experience, knowledge and professionalism. Now is the time to make a deal. Our military's effectiveness and our country's national security depends on it.

Sincerely,

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