Some Boeing machinists back at work after new contract

Renton, Wash. — Boeing machinists head back to work for the first time in nearly two months after striking a deal with the company for better wages and benefits. Their new contract guarantees a 38% pay raise over the next 4 years.

Boeing lost $6 billion last quarter during the strike and is looking to bounce back. Some experts would argue Boeing’s issues go beyond the company.

“It’s not just the company figuring it out, it’s all of these suppliers. Many of them local that have to figure it out as well,” said Joseph Phillips, Dean of Albers School of Business and Economics at Seattle University.

Phillips also argues Boeing has to fix these problems quickly.

“You can’t take one problem and solve that and wait for the next one. You have to kind of solve them all at once,” Phillips said.

During the 2008 strike that lasted 57 days, aviation expert Scott Hamilton says it took the company a couple of years to get back in the positive; however, he says this time around is a lot different.

“But we have some special set of circumstances here and that is the Federal Aviation Administration has a thumb on Boeing and its ability to ramp up its production,” Hamilton said.

While he says it’s great to see machinists back at work, that doesn’t mean they are on the assembly line immediately.

“Because again, federal regulations require that people need to be certified to work on assembling airplanes and they’ve been off for two months. So there has to be a little refresher that goes on before they can really get back and start assembling airplanes,” Hamilton said.

All Boeing machinists have until next Tuesday to return to work.

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