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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio news. Boeing the worst performer

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Speaker 1: in the Dow Industrials. Moody says, it's putting the playmaker

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Speaker 1: on review for a possible downgrade to junk status. And

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Speaker 1: of course this is as thirty three thousand workers in

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Speaker 1: the Seattle area rejected the latest labor deal and voted

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Speaker 1: to strike. They walked off the job this morning.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers walking

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Speaker 2: off the job here. Kind of a blow here for

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Speaker 2: a new CEO that's really been on the job for

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Speaker 2: less than two months. Here we do talk about that

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Speaker 2: strike and what the effect is on Boeing, and we're

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Speaker 2: going to continue that story right now with the head

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Speaker 2: of their union. We welcome in right now our Bloomberg

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Speaker 2: audiences across all of our platforms, a discussion here about

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Speaker 2: those thirty three thousand workers walking off the job.

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Speaker 3: We're joined right now.

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Speaker 2: By the lead negotiator of those talks on the labor

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Speaker 2: union side, John Holden. He's president of IAM District seven

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Speaker 2: five one. John, Thanks for being here on the day

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Speaker 2: we were looking at a twenty plus percent pay raise

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Speaker 2: down the lad line for workers that was rejected their

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Speaker 2: original plan or the original proposal that had come out

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Speaker 2: of the labor union side. What was that percentage and

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Speaker 2: do you think you're going to get there?

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Speaker 3: You know, thank you for having me.

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Speaker 4: You know, our members have worked hard over the last

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Speaker 4: ten years to place themselves in a position of leverage.

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Speaker 3: It's been a long road.

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Speaker 4: We haven't renegotiated our full contract since two thousand and eight,

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Speaker 4: so there's a lot to address. We've certainly, you know,

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Speaker 4: had some tough times when our membership was threatened with

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Speaker 4: job loss and moving jobs away from our production facilities

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Speaker 4: here in Washington, and so there are some pretty deep

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Speaker 4: wounds that our members had to work through. We proposed

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Speaker 4: over forty percent wage increases, and you know, our members

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Speaker 4: certainly deserved those those wages, but there's many other things

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Speaker 4: as well. We have also lost our defined benefit pension,

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Speaker 4: there was a mass cost shift on healthcare, and there's

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Speaker 4: many other issues that our members are looking to address,

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Speaker 4: and we're going to work hard to do that.

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Speaker 3: They're confident, they're ready.

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Speaker 4: They've put themselves in the strongest leverage position possible at

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Speaker 4: the right time.

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Speaker 3: So that's where we're at.

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Speaker 2: What's the relationship right now? Like John, with management at Boeen,

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Speaker 2: particularly at the executive side, do they seem meanable to

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Speaker 2: maybe compromising on some of these issues.

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Speaker 3: Well, we'll see, we'll see.

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Speaker 4: I know they're going through their own issues, but I

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Speaker 4: will tell you that I'm focused solely on what our

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Speaker 4: members need, what their priorities are, and we need more

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Speaker 4: and we're going to definitely push that forward.

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Speaker 3: John.

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Speaker 1: We know the White House has been in touch with

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Speaker 1: both Boeing and the union. Is that helpful to you?

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Speaker 1: Have they been able to move the needle in any way?

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Speaker 4: You know, we'll see. That remains to be seen, I

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Speaker 4: hope so. But at this point, you know, we're going

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Speaker 4: to talk with our members. We just are getting our

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Speaker 4: picket lines up and running. It will be a little

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Speaker 4: chaotic for the first few days here as we get

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Speaker 4: into a well oiled machine sending a strong message.

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Speaker 3: Our members united, a massive rejection.

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Speaker 4: Of the contract and a massive vote to go on

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Speaker 4: strike at ninety six percent. So you know, our members

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Speaker 4: are united across all of our demographics, whether they've worked

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Speaker 4: here for a few months or for forty five years,

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Speaker 4: everyone's united, and we intend to go after the items

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Speaker 4: that our members deserve.

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Speaker 1: So I would like you to be able to outline

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Speaker 1: for us at the next steps for you from where

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Speaker 1: you say, do you plan to head back to the

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Speaker 1: bargaining table this weekend?

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Speaker 4: FMCS is involved in is calling both sides to come

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Speaker 4: back to the table. So we're working through some of

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Speaker 4: those items. We will certainly get back to the table

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Speaker 4: as quickly as we can. We also have to talk

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Speaker 4: to our members since the strike was called last night

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Speaker 4: at midnight, we still have some engagement we need to

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Speaker 4: do so that when we go back to the table

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Speaker 4: we can propose the items that we feel we can

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Speaker 4: make headway on to get a deal done. So we

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Speaker 4: have a little bit of time and hopefully early next week.

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Speaker 2: Are you in a position, meaning the union, are you

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Speaker 2: in a position right now to provide support for work

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Speaker 2: or should this strike be prolonged.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, we have a very strong strike fund and our

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Speaker 4: members will be eligible for that.

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Speaker 3: There's a lot of opportunity for our members.

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Speaker 4: We've spent the last five years talking about saving for this,

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Speaker 4: you know, putting into your individual strike fund, preparing so

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Speaker 4: that we could stand on principle and make sure that

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Speaker 4: financial decisions aren't what will you know, make people decide

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Speaker 4: whether they can accept an agreement or not, but standing

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Speaker 4: on principle so that we can all move ourselves forward.

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Speaker 2: I'm wondering if you could go back in time for me, John,

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Speaker 2: to the line as contract, the last negotiations, and why

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Speaker 2: you feel now that that maybe came up short. I

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Speaker 2: know that you have the benefit of hindsight of being

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Speaker 2: able to judge what was done then, but what could

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Speaker 2: have been done differently that maybe would have put or

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Speaker 2: maybe made you feel a little bit better about the

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Speaker 2: contract situation today.

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Speaker 3: Well, a lot of.

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Speaker 4: This is coming from an extension that happened in twenty

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Speaker 4: thirteen fourteen, and in that extension, you know, our members

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Speaker 4: did lose their defined benefit pension. They were threatened that,

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Speaker 4: you know, a major portion of their work would be

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Speaker 4: sent somewhere else for thousands of our members, you know,

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Speaker 4: threatening thousands of their families. In our community, we had

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Speaker 4: a massive cost shift on healthcare, and we also had

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Speaker 4: stagnated wages over the last eight years, eight to ten years.

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Speaker 4: And that was on the heels of being threatened that

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Speaker 4: the seven three seven Max aircraft would also be built

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Speaker 4: somewhere else unless we agree to an extension and a

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Speaker 4: car shift of healthcare at the time, so there's some

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Speaker 4: deep wounds that we're trying to kal.

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Speaker 3: And I believe this agreement had it been off of.

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Speaker 4: A previous agreement from three years ago or something, might

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Speaker 4: have been perceived different. But this was just a bridge

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Speaker 4: too far, and our members are fighting for what they deserve,

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Speaker 4: and there's many issues that we're trying to address. It's

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Speaker 4: hard to pick just one, but that's what kind of

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Speaker 4: led to this overwhelming vote to strike.

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Speaker 1: Thank you for providing the context there. I understand that

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Speaker 1: the union has requested mediation for the negotiations. How does

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Speaker 1: this process change with a mediator from the NLRB leading

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Speaker 1: the discussions. Does it, I don't know, prevent or rule

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Speaker 1: out the chance of a quick resolution the way that

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Speaker 1: we saw at the Boeing supplier Spirit Aerosystems.

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Speaker 4: Well company reached out to FMCS Federal Mediation and Conciliatory Services,

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Speaker 4: and so we want to get back to the table

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Speaker 4: as well. That's our job is to reach an agreement

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Speaker 4: that provides a better agreement for our members. I think

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Speaker 4: there are benefits to having mediation, and hopefully those can work,

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Speaker 4: but it doesn't deter us from addressing the needs that

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Speaker 4: our members have set, they have spoken loudly. They are

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Speaker 4: standing shoulder to shoulder, speaking with one voice, and we

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Speaker 4: are determined to make the demands to make the improvements

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Speaker 4: that they're demanding.

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Speaker 1: So, as you know, Bloomberg Television speaks to or we.

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Speaker 1: Our audience is analysts, whether it's equity analysts or credit analysts,

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Speaker 1: and investors, bond investors and equity investors. What is your

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Speaker 1: message from the union to this audience. What do you

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Speaker 1: want them to know?

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Speaker 4: It's not usually a group of folks that I talk

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Speaker 4: to a lot, so kind of the message that I

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Speaker 4: gave the company I might give to them. You can

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Speaker 4: either meet the demands of our membership now, it can

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Speaker 4: cost more later. I think it's important that we resolve

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Speaker 4: this as quickly as we can if they take seriously

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Speaker 4: our proposals, it's what our members have earned and deserved,

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Speaker 4: and I think that's the best way to resolve this quickly.

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Speaker 2: And just real quickly. Here too, there's been a lot

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Speaker 2: of talk anytime you have these big labor strikes, it's

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Speaker 2: not always just about the workers at that particular company,

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Speaker 2: particularly with an ecosystem like making airplanes. Here, this is

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Speaker 2: going to have reverberations for other companies, even restaurants and

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Speaker 2: other things in the area.

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Speaker 3: Here.

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Speaker 2: Have you had any discussions at all with other workers

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Speaker 2: and those lines of work, other business leaders and those

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Speaker 2: areas small business leaders about how they're going to get

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Speaker 2: through this should this extend for some period of.

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Speaker 4: Time, Well, we've had discussions with the community at.

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Speaker 3: Large for the last couple of years.

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Speaker 4: In fact, you know, our efforts to fight for job

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Speaker 4: security are fighting for certainly our members to have jobs

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Speaker 4: long into the future, but that also brings jobs for

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Speaker 4: everyone else, the other Boeing employees that aren't represented by

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Speaker 4: the IM, those in the community that are in the

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Speaker 4: aerospace supply chain, that have committed their lives to you know,

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Speaker 4: be in aerospace and help aerospace thrive, and in everyone

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Speaker 4: else that's benefited from these good jobs in the community.

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Speaker 4: So it's been a it's been a fight not just

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Speaker 4: for ourselves but for everyone else to ensure that we

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Speaker 4: have long term jobs long into the future.

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Speaker 1: John Holden, President of IAM Districts seventy five to one,

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Speaker 1: thank you so much for spending some time with us

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Speaker 1: and explaining your side