Overview
- Approximately 3,200 IAM-represented employees at Boeing’s St. Louis and Illinois defense plants walked off the job after voting down a four-year contract with a 40 percent wage increase.
- Strikers assemble F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets and key missile systems, roles that union leaders say merit a contract reflecting their expertise and national security contributions.
- Boeing has activated a contingency plan to rely on non-striking personnel to maintain defense production lines during the work stoppage.
- This strike is the latest in a series of IAM-Boeing labor clashes that halted commercial aircraft output for seven weeks last autumn.
- Boeing’s defense division faces ongoing schedule delays and cost overruns on programs including 747 presidential aircraft conversions, intensifying pressure on stalled negotiations.