About 2,500 Boeing workers on strike after contract rejection

ST Charles, Md. — About 2,500 Boeing workers expected to go on strike next month at three St. Louis-area plants voted Sunday to reject a contract offer from the plane maker.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837 union is scheduled to go on strike Aug. 1 at Boeing manufacturing facilities in St. Charles County, St. Louis County and Mascoutah, Illinois, after the union rejected the contract. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“We cannot accept a contract that is not fair and just, because this company is making billions of dollars every year off the backs of our hardworking members,” the union said.

Boeing said in a statement that the Arlington, Virginia-based company was disappointed by the vote, but that it would now use “contingency plans to continue operations in the event of a strike.”

A Boeing spokeswoman said the company’s contract offer includes competitive raises and a generous retirement plan in which Boeing employees contribute up to 10% of their salary to the retirement plan.

Boeing is expected to give an update on its finances this week after it releases its next quarterly earnings report on Wednesday. Earlier this year, Boeing reported a first-quarter loss of $1.2 billion, but last week the company announced that Delta Air Lines had ordered 100 of its 737 planes.