Boeing fighter jet workers reject 40pc pay rise to go on strike
Engineers on warplane assembly lines in St Louis, Missouri, went on strike on Monday after rejecting a 40pc pay rise.
The strike, which leaves the factory idle for the first time in 30 years, represents the latest blow to Boeing after six years of setbacks and massive financial losses.
The dispute involves members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, who are responsible for producing the F-15 Eagle, the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters, the T-7 trainer and the MQ-25 refuelling drone.
Boeing also plans to make the new F-47 fighter for the US Air Force (USAF) in St Louis after it was handed the contract by Mr Trump in March.
The award represented a coup for Boeing, since the F-47 will replace the F-22 Raptor built by rival Lockheed Martin. Lockheed had come to dominate fighter production with models including the F-35 Lightning – of which more than 3,000 are being built.
The contract also provided a welcome boost following a series of crises involving Boeing's best-selling 737 Max airliner. These included two fatal crashes that led the jet to be grounded for 18 months. And last year, a door-panel blowout led investigators to uncover a plethora of production issues.
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