33,000 striking machinists employed by Boeing and represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers 751 (IAM 751) voted to walk out starting at 12:01 AM on September 13. The walkout will not just impact Boeing’s commercial aircraft production lines but some of Boeing Defense’s product lines also such as the KC-46 Pegasus . Details on the strike action On September 12, IAM 751 members voted 94.
6% against the tentative agreement made by and recommended by Boeing Chief Executive Officer Robert Kelly Ortberg and IAM 751 leaders. Coupled with that vote to reject the tentative agreement was a vote to strike of 96% , which shut down Boeing’s Renton 737 production lines and Paine Field 777, 767, and 787 rework production lines. Boeing's trouble just got worse when more than 30,000 employees voted to go on strike from midnight.
Unlike in the case of airline unions , there is no need for a process to gain release to “self-help” such as striking. Nor “CHAOS” strikes that only call out single routes or, in Boeing’s case, single production lines – all production lines struck by IAM 751. This strike, being that some of the United States Air Force’s key recapitalization programs like the E-7 Wedgetail and the KC-46 Pegasus are based on Boeing jetliners – as well as the P-8A Poseidon for several navies, will have direct impacts on Boeing defense product delivery.
Impacts on the Boeing KC-46 Pegasus In a September 13 Defense News report , B.