Machinists strike Boeing

33,000 Machinists walk off the job in the Puget Sound and Portland-area, striking for the first time since 2008

SEATTLE, WA (September 13, 2024) — Boeing Machinists, unsatisfied with the company’s contract offer after over a decade of forced concessions, hit the strike line at 12:01 am Friday morning. In a vote announced late Thursday night, the workers rejected Boeing’s offer by 94.6% and more than 96% voted to strike.

Pickets are running 24/7 at Boeing facilities.

Machinists walk the strike line outside the Boeing facility in Renton.

Machinists began bargaining with Boeing this spring, moving to round the clock, hotel bargaining sessions starting August 12. On September 8, the Machinists local 751 announced that a tentative agreement had been reached with Boeing, an agreement recommended by the bargaining team who viewed it as the best possible offer they could secure from Boeing without a strike.

But that offer didn’t go far enough for the workers, who turned out en masse to reject the tentative agreement and make the courageous choice to strike. As IAM 751 President Jon Holden announced the results of the vote, Machinists’ erupted, chanting ‘strike.’

“We’re ready,” said IAM 751 President Jon Holden. “Our members are ready.”

Machinists at their union hall in Southpark celebrating the results of the vote.

Support for the workers is pouring in as the news of the strike spreads. Strike lines were overflowing with energy in the early hours of Friday morning with horns, whistles, and a steady chorus of noise from passing motorists ringing through the region. Union members and staff from SPEEA, UAW, OPEIU and more joined Machinists on the line.

As Machinists withhold their labor and grind the massive corporation’s operations to a halt, the ball is now in Boeing’s court. International attention is already laser-focused on Boeing as the company weathers the consequences of two decades of cost cutting, outsourcing and exploitation of their workforce. Boeing’s pursuit of ever-increasing profits at the expense of working people has threatened both safety and reliability for the flying public, and as of Friday morning, pushed the workers out to the strike line.

Now, Machinists at Boeing are walking the strike line for all of us.

Previously at The STAND — Machinists bargain for Boeing’s future