(Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co.’s Kelly Ortberg urged members of the company’s largest union not to strike, cautioning a work stoppage would harm efforts to turn around the planemaker’s factories after years of turmoil.
“I hope you will choose the bright future ahead, but I also know there are employees considering another path – and it’s one where no one wins,” Ortberg said in a message to all Boeing employees in Washington and Oregon.
The 33,000 members of the IAM District 751 are due to vote Thursday on the company’s proposal and whether to strike when their current contract expires at midnight. A work stoppage would potentially shutter Boeing factories around the Pacific Northwest, including the final assembly lines of its 737 Max.
Emotions are running high at Boeing factories around the region, with workers marching and sounding air horns and whistles to signal their anger at an offer that would guarantee wages would increase 25% over four years, but also eliminate an annual bonus. At the Renton 737 plant, the din was so loud that some non-union members, including a large group of engineers, were sent home to work remotely on Wednesday afternoon, according to an memo viewed by Bloomberg News.
The labor strife is emerging as a key challenge for Ortberg, who took over the CEO job in August at a company reeling from a near-catastrophe in January that exposed quality shortfalls in its factories.
Ortberg shows up regularly and without fanfare at Boeing plants since announcing he would be based in Seattle. And he’s stressed to both union leaders and senior executives that he intends to change Boeing’s culture, starting with resetting the relationship with employees.
In the memo, Ortberg said he understood the “passionate” response by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. And he acknowledged that Boeing’s current dire straits are “in part due to our own mistakes in the past.”
“Working together, I know that we can get back on track,” Ortberg said. However, he added that “a strike would put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers and hurting our ability to determine our future together.”
(Updates with details on Ortberg.)
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