Boeing's machinists, on strike since Sept. 6, will start drawing $150 a week in strike benefits on Saturday. The union workers walked away from an 11% pay raise over three years and a $5,000 signing bonus. The weekly amount for a machinist at work at Boeing is approximately $1,250 which includes overtime.
For more details on the contract offer the union members walked away from, see my previous post on Sept. 2. Many people today don't make $34,000 a year let alone get a $34,000 salary increase and bonus.
Hopefully, this strike will end soon before too many Boeing workers and their families, the company and the state and local economies suffer any more losses. This is not the best of times financially for many.
Don C. Brunell, President (DonB@awb.org)
