Thursday, October 24, 2024

Germany's Baerbock demands Israel allow aid into Gaza on Beirut visit

DPA
Wed, October 23, 2024 

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock holds a press conference at the German Embassy in Beirut. Baerbock is in the Lebanese capital Beirut to gain an impression of the situation amid the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Jörg Blank/dpa


German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Wednesday called on the Israeli government to allow more humanitarian aid into northern Gaza, as she defended ongoing arms deliveries to Israel.

On a visit to Beirut, Baerbock said the situation "especially in northern Gaza is becoming more desperate by the day" amid a fresh Israeli offensive.

Northern Gaza has been cut off for 19 days, Baerbock said, with humanitarian aid "only trickling in."

Earlier this year, the Israeli government promised to "flood" the Gaza Strip with aid, Baerbock recalled. "This humanitarian aid must arrive in Gaza," she insisted.

"There is an obligation under international law to provide humanitarian aid," the German foreign minister said.

She further highlighted the International Court of Justice's ruling that Israel must provide civilians in Gaza with aid.

"This order is binding on Israel, on its government, under international law," she emphasized.

However, Baerbock insisted that Germany continues to support Israel "including with weapons" in its right to self-defence.

All arms deliveries are subject to international humanitarian law, she maintained.

"The Israeli government bears responsibility for ensuring that international humanitarian law is observed," Baerbock said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock holds a press conference at the German Embassy in Beirut. Baerbock is in the Lebanese capital Beirut to gain an impression of the situation amid the war between Israel and Hezbollah. Jörg Blank/dpa

Germany's Baerbock says arms exports to Israel pose 'dilemma' amid risks to international law

Wed, October 23, 2024 

Smoke billows over the UNESCO-listed port city of Tyre after Israeli strikes


By Timour Azhari and Riham Alkousaa

BEIRUT/BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's foreign minister said on Wednesday Israel has the right to defend itself against Hezbollah attacks but supplying it with weapons had posed "a dilemma" amid concerns over international law violations.

Annalena Baerbock spoke after arriving in Lebanon for talks on how to defuse escalating Israel-Hezbollah hostilities, five days after the U.N. said its peacekeepers had been targeted by Israeli forces in south Lebanon's conflict zone.


"On the one hand, Israel is attacked every day and not supporting it would mean that people are not (being) protected ... On the other, it is also Germany's responsibility to stand up for international humanitarian law," Baerbock said.

She made no indication that Germany was reconsidering its longtime policy of supplying arms to Israel. Chancellor Olaf Scholz last week said Germany, one of Israel's staunchest Western allies, would continue to provide such military aid.

Baerbock said Israel had the right to defend itself against Lebanon's powerful Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah but also a responsibility to ensure it adheres to international humanitarian law.

Baerbock spoke to journalists in Beirut after meeting Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a close ally of Hezbollah who has been engaging in diplomatic efforts to end the conflict.

The U.N. mission in Lebanon said last week its outposts near Lebanon's border with Israel had come under several "deliberate" Israeli attacks and that efforts to help civilians in villages in the war zone were being hampered by Israeli shelling.

"Any deliberate attack on U.N. peacekeepers violates humanitarian law," said Baerbock.

Israel says U.N. forces in south Lebanon have effectively provided a human shield for Hezbollah fighters and has told UNIFIL to evacuate peacekeepers for their own safety - a request that it has refused.

Baerbock said the key to achieving peace is the full implementation of the 18-year-old U.N. Resolution 1701, which entails a Hezbollah withdrawal behind Lebanon's Litani River and Israeli forces back from the "Blue Line" demarcating the border.

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has a crucial role in maintaining stability in the region, and all parties involved must protect UNIFIL soldiers, she added.

Baerbock was set to have a video conference with UNIFIL Commanding General Aroldo Lazaro Saenz later in the afternoon.

"Our common message to the people of Lebanon is that we will not look away, we will not leave them alone," Baerbock said.

"We are working on a diplomatic solution that respects the security interests of both Israel and Lebanon," she added.

Germany's DPA news agency said Berlin approved arms exports to Israel worth around 31 million euros ($34 million) over the past eight weeks, more than twice as much as in the first 7-1/2 months of this year.

(Reporting by Timor Azhari in Beirut, Riham Alkousaa in Berlin, Editing by Rachel More and Miranda Murray)

France defends restrictions on Israeli firms supplying Middle East wars and says it's not a boycott

Associated Press
Updated Tue, October 22, 2024 

File - Smoke rises following Israeli bombardment on the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, Sunday, Oct. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Tsafrir Abayov, File)

PARIS (AP) — France's government on Tuesday defended its decision to bar Israeli companies supplying the wars in the Middle East from exhibiting at an upcoming trade fair outside Paris.

Organizers of the Nov. 4-7 naval defense exhibition, called Euronaval, posted on the event's website that Israeli firms can take part in the show and “may have an exhibition stand, provided that their products are not used in military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.”

The organizers attributed the restrictions to French government decisions taken earlier this month.


Addressing parliament Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said the policy doesn't amount to a boycott of Israeli firms.

But he also said it would be “incoherent” for France to allow the promotion of weapons used in the wars when Paris is also pushing for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and Lebanon.

“Therefore, we have indicated to the Israeli authorities, with whom we communicate very regularly, that the participation in the form of stands by companies should respect this balance,” Barrot said.

“Also, companies whose equipment is not used in offensive actions in Gaza and Lebanon will naturally be able to have stands at the exhibition," he said.

In a post Sunday on X, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz urged French President Emmanuel Macron to rescind the restrictions, calling them “unacceptable” and “anti-democratic.”

“France, as well as the entire Western world, should stand with us -- not against us,” Katz posted.

Barrot reiterated that France supports Israel's right to defend itself. The minister cited, as an example, France's decision to continue exporting components that he said are used in Israel's “Iron Dome” air-defense system.

“On the other hand, it would be incoherent to enable any promotion of weapons used in Gaza and Lebanon, which lead to unacceptable damage for the civilian populations, when this government and our country is calling for an immediate cease-fire,” the French minister said.


As coal plants shut in Romania, some miners transition to green energy while others are reluctant

ANCA GURZU, Cipher News
Wed, October 23, 2024

PETRILA, Romania (AP) — For many years, Sebastian Tirinticǎ worked in a coal mine, just like his father and grandfather before him.

These days, Tirinticǎ, now 38, is largely surrounded by solar panels and wind turbines as he travels across Romania to train former coal workers and others for jobs in renewable energies.

It’s been a huge professional shift for a worker from one of the main coal regions of this formerly Communist Eastern European country.


“It’s hard to unglue yourself from something you did your entire life," said Tirinticǎ, who has a short beard sprinkled with grey hair. “It’s hard to start again from zero, and not everyone has the strength and courage to do it.”

Romania hopes to find more workers like Tirinticǎ, but they are hard to come by.

____

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is a collaboration between The Associated Press and Cipher News.

____

In a region where coal mining was once a driving economic force, coal miners are witnessing a slow and steady decline of a decades-old industry as Romania prepares to phase out all coal-based activities by 2032.

However, not many miners have taken the leap to equip themselves with new skills, even when presented with opportunities, as tradition, uncertainty and fear keep people wedded to what they know. This is sometimes one of the largest challenges of the green energy transition: changing hearts and minds.

For that to happen, coal workers need incentives and guarantees, which experts say do not exist. The lack of a targeted strategy, mixed political messages and distrust are some of the main barriers for transforming regions that have long depended on coal.

Tirinticǎ initially hesitated to make the jump. He was one of 10 miners who could have received free training and a job as a wind turbine installer as part of a pilot project in 2019. He declined because it would have taken him to Germany and away from his wife and two daughters.

Today, he said he is the only one of those original 10 who had left the coal industry. He did so in 2022 after having gone through two reskilling courses the year before, totalling about a month. Tirinticǎ learned the basics of how to install solar panels on different surfaces and how to fix wind turbines, including first aid procedures and how to deal with heights. He later took additional specialized courses to train others in gaining new skills.

Romania, a European Union member country of about 19 million people, is known for its medieval castles in the region of Transylvania. The country has a flourishing information technology and software services sector, along with a good manufacturing and agricultural base. Yet unemployment in rural areas, corruption and bureaucracy are challenges. Millions have left in recent years in search of better economic opportunities.

A shift to a greener economy is also upending the country’s energy sector, adding to the reluctance of some miners to embrace change amid an uncertain future.

Workers at the Oltenia Energy Complex (CE Oltenia), one of Romania’s largest energy companies primarily involved in coal-based energy production in the southwestern county of Gorj, had the chance earlier this year to pursue an 18-day course to become an accredited installer of solar photovoltaic panels.

This summer, about 100 people completed the course provided by RenewAcad, a reskilling program spearheaded by renewable energy company Monsson and sponsored by energy major OMV Petrom.

Although a success for the project, the number represents only about 1.3% of CE Oletenia’s workforce of about 8,000 employees across the company’s mines and coal-based power plants.

In 2021, the RenewAcad project targeted a group of 800 coal-based workers for reskilling as solar panel and wind turbine installers. But the search for applicants had to be broadened to other parts of the country because the sign-up rates from the mining regions wasn’t high enough.

“Grandpa, great-grandpa worked in the mine, what will the neighbor say if I leave the industry?” said Sebastian Enache, business development manager at Monsson, who is overseeing the project, explaining the reluctance of many coal miners.

The average monthly salary for a coal miner is around 800 to 1000 euros, locals say, but can also be higher for those working in power plants or with more education. Entry level salaries for solar panel installers are similar but often involve traveling across the country or abroad, making the switch less attractive.

Workers who participated in the Romanian training had to take time off or do the almost four-week course between their shifts, which was a disincentive.

“You can imagine the interest would have been much higher if people didn’t have to take vacation for it,” said Ciprian Nacu, 39, chief engineer at one of the main power plants in the region, who enjoyed the solar installer course after initially hesitating. He also runs a small lighting company and wants to slowly expand it towards PV installations.

The reskilling course is set to start again in November.

Locals worry that the closure of coal-based activities will bring poverty to their areas, which neighboring regions experienced as hundreds of mines started to close after the fall of Communism in the 1990s.

“We are not connected to any European road, we don’t have a highway, who is going to come here and make something new?” said Constantin Buzarin, vice president at Ecocivica Gorj, a local nonprofit.

The renewables sector is expected to create thousands of jobs, but they will likely be spread across the country and appeal to people with different professional backgrounds.

Gorj County’s troubles reflect the struggles many regions across Europe and the United States encounter as coal phase-out plans continue and decarbonization efforts gain momentum. Failure to ensure reskilling and economic opportunities for former fossil fuel workers could lead to inequalities, according to a recent labor market report from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Romania received 2.14 billion euros through the EU’s Just Transition Fund, set up to help transform European regions that historically have focused on fossil fuel production. Gorj County received the highest share, 550 million euros, which is set to gradually go to a series of programs through 2027, including one to reskill coal workers, according to the European Commission.

Although Romania’s coal industry is on its way out, the topic remains politically sensitive, especially ahead of the parliamtradentary elections set to take place on Dec. 1, as the mining community still represents a powerful voting bloc.

“There is no political vision that can show people the light at the end of the tunnel,” said Eliza Barnea from CEE Bankwatch Network, a climate-focused nonprofit.

Alin Şipanu, Gorj County council representative working on the energy transition, sees some progress, however. At the launch of the reskilling project earlier this year, workers who showed up were curious about what they could learn. A few years ago, when the energy transition talk started popping up in the region, workers were outwardly hostile.

“Four years ago, the topic was taboo,” Şipanu said. “You would have seen tomatoes flying.”

—-

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.



















Climate Romania Coal To Renewables
Sebastian Tirintica sits backdropped by solar panels in the RenewAcad training center in Petrosani, southern Romania, Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

Wednesday, October 23, 2024

Boeing factory workers vote to

 reject contract and continue 

6-week strike

SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing factory workers voted Wednesday to reject the company’s latest contract offer and to continue a six-week strike that has halted production of the aerospace giant’s bestselling jetliners.

Local union leaders in Seattle said 64% of members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers who cast ballots voted against accepting the proposal.

“After 10 years of sacrifices, we still have ground to make up, and we’re hopeful to do so by resuming negotiations promptly,” Jon Holden, the head of the IAM District 751 union, said in a statement Wednesday evening. “This is workplace democracy — and also clear evidence that there are consequences when a company mistreats its workers year after year."

A spokesperson for Boeing said officials didn’t have a comment on the vote.

The labor standoff comes during an already challenging year for Boeing, which became the focus of multiple federal investigations after a door panel blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.

The strike has deprived the company of much-needed cash that it gets from delivering new planes to airlines. On Wednesday, the company reported a third-quarter loss of more than $6 billion.

Union machinists assemble the 737 Max, Boeing’s best-selling airliner, along with the 777 or “triple-seven” jet and the 767 cargo plane at factories in Renton and Everett, Washington.

The offer rejected Wednesday included pay raises of 35% over four years. The version that union members rejected when they voted to strike last month featured a 25% increase over four years.

The union, which initially demanded 40% pay boosts over three years, said the annual raises in the revised offer would total 39.8%, when compounded.

Boeing has said that average annual pay for machinists is currently $75,608.

Boeing workers told Associated Press reporters that a sticking point was the company’s refusal to restore a traditional pension plan that was frozen a decade ago.

“The pension should have been the top priority. We all said that was our top priority, along with wage,” Larry Best, a customer-quality coordinator with 38 years at Boeing, said on a picket line outside a Boeing factory in Everett, Washington. “Now is the prime opportunity in a prime time to get our pension back, and we all need to stay out and dig our heels in.”

Theresa Pound, a 16-year Boeing veteran, also voted against the deal. She said the health plan has gotten worse, with higher premiums and more out-of-pocket expenses, and her expected pension benefits would not be enough, even when combined with a 401(k) retirement account.

“I have put more time in this place than I was ever required to. I have literally blood, sweat and tears from working at this company,” the 37-year-old said. “I’m looking at working until I’m 70 because I have this possibility that I might not get to retire based on what’s happening in the market.”

The strike, which began Sept. 13, has served as an early test for Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, who became chief executive in August.

In his first remarks to investors, Ortberg said earlier Wednesday that Boeing needs “a fundamental culture change,” and he laid out his plan to revive the aerospace giant after years of heavy losses and damage to its reputation.

Ortberg repeated in a message to employees and on the earnings call that he wants to “reset” management’s relationship with labor “so we don’t become so disconnected in the future.” He said company leaders need to spend more time on factory floors to know what is going on and “prevent the festering of issues and work better together to identify, fix, and understand root cause.”

Ortberg, a Boeing outsider who previously ran Rockwell Collins, a maker of avionics and flight controls for airline and military planes, said Boeing is at a crossroads.

“The trust in our company has eroded. We’re saddled with too much debt. We’ve had serious lapses in our performance across the company, which have disappointed many of our customers,” he said.

But Ortberg also highlighted the company’s strengths, including a backlog of airplane orders valued at a half-trillion dollars.

“It will take time to return Boeing to its former legacy, but with the right focus and culture, we can be an iconic company and aerospace leader once again,” he said.

In recent weeks, Ortberg announced large-scale layoffs — about 17,000 people — and a plan to raise enough cash to avoid a bankruptcy filing.

Boeing hasn’t had a profitable year since 2018, and Wednesday’s numbers represented the second-worst quarter in the manufacturer’s history. Boeing lost $6.17 billion in the period ended Sept. 30, with an adjusted loss of $10.44 per share. Analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research had expected a loss of $10.34 per share.

BOEING CEO


Revenue totaled $17.84 billion, matching Wall Street estimates.

The company burned nearly $2 billion in cash, in the quarter, weakening its balance sheet, which is loaded down with $58 billion in debt. Chief Financial Officer Brian West said the company will not generate positive cash flow until the second half of next year.

Shares of The Boeing Co. fell 2% in regular trading Wednesday.

Boeing’s fortunes soured after two of its 737 Max jetliners crashed in October 2018 and March 2019, killing 346 people. Safety concerns were renewed this January, when a panel blew off a Max during an Alaska Airlines flight.

Ortberg needs to convince federal regulators that Boeing is fixing its safety culture and is ready to boost production of the 737 Max — a crucial step to bring in much-needed cash. That can’t happen, however, until the striking workers return to their jobs.

Early in the strike, Boeing made what it termed its “best and final” offer. The proposal included pay raises of 30% over four years, and angered union leaders because the company announced it to the striking workers through the media and set a short ratification deadline.

Boeing backed down and gave the union more time. However, many workers maintained the offer still wasn’t good enough. The company withdrew the proposed contract on Oct. 9 after negotiations broke down, and the two sides announced the latest proposal on Saturday.

Charles Fromong, a mechanic who has worked at Boeing for 38 years, said Wednesday night after the results were announced that the company needs to take care of its workers.

“I feel sorry for the young people,” he said. “I’ve spent my life here and I’m getting ready to go, but they deserve a pension and I deserve an increase.”

The last Boeing strike, in 2008, lasted eight weeks and cost the company about $100 million daily in deferred revenue. A 1995 strike lasted 10 weeks.

___

Koenig reported from Dallas. Lindsey Wasson in Everett, Washington, contributed to this report.

Boeing workers reject the company's latest proposal, which included a 35% wage hike


Shubhangi Goel
Wed, October 23, 2024

Boeing workers just rejected a proposal with a 35% wage increase over four years.


The strike has halted most of Boeing's manufacturing for over five weeks.


Boeing's earnings missed analyst expectations by over 18% amid the ongoing strike.

Boeing machinists have rejected a new proposal that included a 35% wage increase over four years, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 751 said Wednesday.

The strike has been going on for five weeks and has halted most of the plane maker's manufacturing.

Along with the wage hike, the new proposal raised a signing bonus from $3,000 to $7,000. It was rejected by 64% of union workers, according to the IAM.

"After 10 years of sacrifice, we still have ground to make up. We hope to resume negotiations promptly," the IAM said in a statement on X on Wednesday.

Boeing reported third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, with a net loss of over $6 billion. This brings the company's total losses in 2024 to nearly $8 billion.

CEO Kelly Ortberg, who joined in August, addressed the stoppage on Wednesday's earnings call.

"First and foremost on everybody's mind today is ending the IAM strike. We've been feverishly working to find a solution that works for the company and meets our employees' needs," Ortberg said.

The strike, which started on September 13, began after workers rejected a proposal to raise pay by 25% over four years, demanding 40%. The company's second offer of 30% was withdrawn after talks broke down.

According to figures provided by the union and company, the average pay for Boeing machinists has risen about 15% over the past decade to $75,000. The cost of living in the US has risen 33% in the same period, according to government inflation data.

Analysts at Anderson Economic Group estimated that the first month of Boeing's 33,000-worker strike cost the company and workers $5 billion. The last strike, in 2008, shuttered plants for eight weeks and hit revenue by an estimated $100 million per day.

Boeing did not immediately respond to a request for comment, sent outside standard business hours.

 Business Insider

Boeing strike to continue after workers reject new contract

MAX ZAHN, JACK MOORE and AYESHA ALI
Wed, October 23, 2024 at 10:07 PM MDT·4 min read
33





Boeing machinists on Wednesday rejected a new contract proposal that would've ended a weekslong work stoppage against the embattled aerospace company -- and the union said the strike will go on.

Sixty-four percent of workers voted to reject the new contract, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the union representing 33,000 Boeing workers in Washington, Oregon and California.

Representatives for Boeing said Wednesday night the company did not have a comment on the vote.

The proposed contract would have delivered a 35% raise over the four-year duration of the contract, upping the 25% cumulative raise provided in a previous offer overwhelmingly rejected by workers in a vote last month. Workers had initially sought a 40% cumulative pay increase.

The proposal also called for hiking Boeing's contribution to a 401(k) plan, but it declined to fulfill workers' call for a reinstatement of the company's defined pension. The contract would have included a $7,000 ratification bonus for each worker, as well as a performance bonus that Boeing had sought to jettison.

But union leaders said the concessions offered in the proposal were not enough to meet the demands of rank-and-file union members.

"This contract struggle began over ten years ago when the company overreached and created a wound that may never heal for many members," said Jon Holden, president of IAM District 751 in Seattle, in a statement after the vote. "I don’t have to tell you all how challenging it has been for our membership through the pandemic, the crashes, massive inflation, and the need to address the losses stemming from the 2014 contract."

The union said the strike will continue as they return to the bargaining table with the company.

Hours before workers cast ballots on Wednesday, Boeing released an earnings report showing the company had lost a staggering $6.1 billion over the most recent quarter due primarily to costs associated with the strike.

MORE: Striking Boeing workers set to vote on new contract offer. Will they approve it?

"We have some really big rocks that we need to get behind us to move the company forward," Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a letter to investors on Wednesday.

Ortberg singled out the strike as an issue that must be addressed "first and foremost."

"We have been feverishly working to find a solution that works for the company and meets our employees' needs," Ortberg said.

The company and its workers have faced significant financial losses during the nearly six-week strike.

Union members have received $250 per week from a strike fund, beginning in the third week of the work stoppage. That compensation marks a major pay cut for many of the employees.

Mid-ranking workers involved in the strike typically make $20 per hour, which totals $800 per 40-hour work week, while higher-paid members earn salaries upward of $100,000 per year, or nearly $2,000 per week.

"The question is whether the employees and their union determine that they have the power to get more from Boeing," Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group, told ABC News. "It's whether they think they can extract more from Boeing, or Boeing says, 'You know what, this is it.'"

PHOTO: Boeing factory workers and supporters gather on a picket line during the third day of a strike near the entrance to a Boeing production facility in Renton, Wash., Sept. 15, 2024. (David Ryder/Reuters)

The strike was set to cost Boeing $108 million per day in lost revenue, amounting to as much as $5.5 billion in losses should the work stoppage last 50 days, investment bank TD Cowen said in a report reviewed by ABC News at the outset of the dispute. So far, the strike has lasted 40 days.

In September, Boeing announced furloughs and pay cuts for some white-collar employees in response to the strike. Last week, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg announced plans to cut 17,000 jobs, which amounts to about 10% of its global workforce.

"This is really painful for Boeing," Richard Aboulafia, managing director of aerospace consulting firm AeroDynamic Advisory, told ABC News.

MORE: What would a Kamala Harris or Donald Trump victory mean for the stock market?

The most recent IAM strike against Boeing in the Pacific Northwest, in 2008, lasted 57 days. Work stoppages undertaken by unionized Boeing employees in the same region have historically lasted an average of 60 days, a Bank of America Global Research analysis found after examining seven previous strikes, the earliest in 1948.

In the days leading up to Wednesday's vote, the outcome remained unclear, Jake Rosenfeld, a professor of sociology at Washington University in St. Louis, who studies labor, told ABC News.

"What are the workers going to do?" Rosenfeld said. "That's a really tough question."


Boeing workers vote to reject deal
to end strike, union says

Michael Sainato
THE GUARDIAN
Wed, October 23, 2024 


Boeing workers strike in Seattle, Washington, on 15 October 2024. Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union have voted to extend their month-long strike.Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters


Boeing workers have rejected the latest offer to end the more than a month-long strike that has crippled the already struggling manufacturing giant.

In a blow to Boeing and the Biden administration, which has fought for a resolution to the dispute, 64% of the 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union voted to reject the contract, the union said late on Wednesday.

“After 10 years of sacrifices, we still have ground to make up, and we’re hopeful to do so by resuming negotiations promptly,” leaders of the union said in a statement after votes were tallied.

The news came on the same day that new CEO Kelly Ortberg said he would “fundamentally” transform the culture inside the beleaguered aerospace giant, and announced Boeing’s quarterly losses had swelled to almost $6bn.

The workers represented by the union began striking on 13 September.

The latest contract proposal included a 35% wage increase over the four-year contract, reinstatement of incentive bonuses, increases to the company 401k match – though workers were pushing to bring back pensions that were lost as concessionary in previous contracts, and a $7,000 ratification bonus.

Related: Boeing faces new scrutiny as US aviation agency opens safety review

After weeks of tense negotiations, a deal had appeared to be in the offing over the weekend.

“With the help of acting US secretary of labor Julie Su, we have received a negotiated proposal and resolution to end the strike, and it warrants presenting to the members and is worthy of your consideration,” the union’s bargaining committee said in a statement to members on 19 October. “We are finalizing the strike settlement agreement, which will be completed soon, along with additional contract details to provide you with a clear understanding of the offer.”

Workers also rejected an initial tentative agreement in early September. Talks resumed with a federal mediator on 7 October after a two-week stalemate. But those talks quickly broke down as Boeing suspended negotiations with the union and withdrew the offer that included a 30% wage increase.

On 1 October, employee healthcare benefits for Boeing workers on strike were cut off by the company. The union noted workers had been engaging with the community for striking members to work temporary jobs in addition to the strike pay of $250 a week members have been receiving since the third week of the strike.

Boeing had also announced plans to layoff 17,000 workers as part of plans for a 10% work reduction at its commercial unit for union and non-union workers.

According to a recent analysis by the Anderson Economic Group, the strike cost an estimated $7.6bn in direct economic losses, including $4.35bn for Boeing and nearly $2bn for Boeing suppliers


















Boeing employees on strike arrive to vote on a new contract offer from the company Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at the Aerospace Machinists Union hall in Renton, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)