Boeing workers cast crucial strike vote amid contract backlash

Members of Boeing Co.’s largest union vote on the first comprehensive labor contract in 16 years on Thursday, setting the stage for a disruptive strike just as the embattled planemaker works to recover from a series of manufacturing missteps. Company and union leaders presented their tentative agreement over the weekend, calling it a landmark accord that includes 25% guaranteed wage increase, the largest such offer in Boeing’s history. But the terms swiftly enraged workers expecting a far greater payout, demanding payback after their wages were curtailed by soaring inflation in recent years. Members of IAM District 751, which represents 33,000 Boeing workers from northern California to Idaho, have pilloried union President Jon Holden and his deal in furious social media posts. They’ve vented their ire with horns, sirens and marches on factory floors, and held an impromptu strike rally outside the company’s widebody plant in Everett, Washington. Holden has said he understands the angry response from members still seething over a 2014 accord that hiked health care costs and stripped away pensions. Boeing management, meanwhile, has sought to quell the rage, saying they bargained in good faith and that the company had put its best foot forward. “I ask you not to sacrifice the opportunity to secure our future together, because of the frustrations of the past,” Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a memo to workers on Wednesday. He said employees considering another path is “one where no one wins.”<br/>