A second tentative contract offer was voted down on Oct. 24, by a 64% margin, by District 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the largest union of Boeing workers. While Boeing is now in a big rush to gain a contract, calling in favors from the White House, it failed to come to the negotiating table for days. Later, as a dirty trick, Boeing sent a fake “union contract” in the mail to the homes of union members, to give the impression that the union leadership had already agreed to this phony contract, and that it only needed a vote from the membership. The company has furthermore threatened layoffs in order to induce fear. When IAM District 751 President Jon Holden read the election results at the union offices and promised to return to the negotiating table, the room full of unionists defiantly chanted, “Fight! Fight! Fight!”
The company has made no comment on the vote results, but Boeing’s new chief executive Kelly Ortberg has been insisting on making a “fundamental culture change.” Ortberg said, “Our leaders, from me on down, need to be closely integrated with our business and the people who are doing the design and production of our products. We need to be on the factory floors, in the back shops and in our engineering labs. We need to know what’s going on, not only with our products, but with our people.”