LAST UPDATE | 19 hrs ago
THOUSANDS OF BOEING factory workers in the United States walked off the job today after voting overwhelmingly to reject a contract with the embattled aviation giant, its first strike in 16 years.
Union leaders called for the strike to start just after midnight on Friday (8am Irish Time), shortly after hourly workers in the Seattle region in the Pacific Northwest spurned the tentative contract with 94.6% of the vote, and to strike with 96%.
A strike will shutter two major plane assembly plants for the 737 MAX and 777 in the Puget Sound region and sidelines some 33,000 workers, further delaying the financially stressed company’s turnaround efforts.
“We sent an overwhelmingly large message to Boeing that they cannot continue to treat us this poorly,” Mike Corsetti, who has worked at Boeing for 15 years, told AFP Friday afternoon as he picketed in front of the Everett factory.
Yesterday’s vote by …