Boeing machinists approve contract with 59% support, ending 53-day strike

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Boeing’s unionized machinists voted 59% to approve a third contract offer from the company, ending the 53-day strike and a costly work stoppage that was viewed as a key cultural bellwether for the industrial icon desperate to begin a new strategic chapter.

The end of the strike, which began Sept. 13, is a relief for the beleaguered airplane maker and its fragile supply chain, which has been slow to recover after a decade of strategic cost cutting, the COVID-19 pandemic and battered by multiple safety and quality crises that halted production at its key airplane programs.

Related: Boeing strike: An interview with IAM 751 president Jon Holden

“I think this is a great victory tonight,” said Jon Holden, president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace District 751 in a press conference following the announcement of the result. “I think we’ve got to get back into building the airplanes. We’ve got to get back into increasing the [production] rates, making this company successful.”

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Jon Ostrower
Jon Ostrower is Editor-in-chief of The Air Current, where he leads coverage of the global aerospace and aviation industries. Prior to launching TAC in June 2018, Mr. Ostrower served as Aviation Editor for CNN Worldwide, guiding the network’s global coverage of the business and operations of aviation. Mr. Ostrower joined CNN in 2016 following four and a half years at the Wall Street Journal. Based first in Chicago and then in Washington, D.C., he covered Boeing, aviation safety, and the business of global aerospace. Before that, Mr. Ostrower was editor of FlightBlogger for Flightglobal and Flight International Magazine covering the development of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and other new aircraft programs from 2007 to 2012. He is also an instructor at the University of Southern California in the Viterbi School of Engineering's Aviation Safety and Security program. Mr. Ostrower, a Boston native, graduated from The George Washington University’s School of Media and Public Affairs with a bachelor’s degree in Political Communication. He is based in Seattle.
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