Contract talks are set to resume between Boeing and the labour union representing machinists at the airframer’s St. Louis, Missouri fighter aircraft assembly complex, where workers have been on strike for nearly two months.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) says its negotiators will return to the table with Boeing on 29 September, as the strike drags toward the end of its second month.
The parties will be joined by mediators from the US federal government.
“The bargaining committees for Boeing and IAM [unit] 837 have agreed to return to negotiations on Monday with the help of a federal mediator in an effort to find a path to end the strike,” the union says.
Boeing also confirms those plans.
Officials from the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service (FMCS) can join collective bargaining talks at the mutual request of both parties to help resolve disputes around labour issues.
The agency describes its mediators as a neutral third-party who communicate with both sides and “leverage the expertise of the skilled negotiators at the table to address the core interests of the negotiating parties”.
The service is provided at no cost to either party, according to the FMCS.
Machinists at several of Boeing’s fighter aircraft assembly lines walked off the job in early August, after voting to reject a contract offer from Boeing, which had received approval from IAM negotiators and leadership.
Workers subsequently rejected a second, improved contract offer in another referendum earlier this month.
Since that 11 September vote, the situation has deteriorated significantly, with both sides publicly accusing the other of acting in bad faith and making deceptive statements.
Boeing has already moved to start hiring permanent replacements for the striking machinists, who work on the company’s F-15EX, F/A-18E/F, T-7A, MQ-25 and precision munitions assembly lines.
The airframer tells FlightGlobal it has been able to maintain production on those lines be reassigning similarly skilled, non-union workers from elsewhere in the company.
The IAM says its members are seeking increased pay, a larger signing bonus and a raise to 401(k) retirement contributions in line with the figures approved for Boeing workers in other locations.
Boeing has repeatedly accused the union of not providing a clear financial target for negotiations.
The airframer’s last offer included an average 45% pay rise over five years.
