Boeing Workers Reject Latest Offer, Will Continue to Strike

Boeing factory workers voted Wednesday to reject the company's latest contract offer and to continue a six-week strike that has halted production of the aerospace giant's bestselling jetliners, the AP reports. Local union leaders in Seattle said the proposal fell short of the majority of support needed from members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers who cast ballots on Wednesday. The offer included pay raises of 35% over four years. The version that union members rejected when they voted to strike last month featured a 25% increase over four years. The union, which initially demanded 40% pay boosts over three years, said the annual raises in the revised offer would total 39.8%, when compounded.

Boeing workers told Associated Press reporters that a sticking point was the company's refusal to restore a traditional pension plan that was axed a decade ago. The labor standoff comes during an already challenging year for Boeing, which became the focus of multiple federal investigations after a door panel blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. The strike has deprived the company of much-needed cash that it gets from delivering new planes to airlines. On Wednesday, the company reported a third-quarter loss of more than $6 billion.

(More Boeing stories.)