the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Sep 16, 2024
At midnight on Thursday, September 12, 33,000 workers at Boeing aircraft company began walking off their jobs after overwhelmingly rejecting a new four-year contract and voting to strike. The new contract had been pictured by the company and the officials of the IAM (International Association Machinists) as a very good one with a 25% wage increase over the life of the contract and increased job security.
But the bargaining agreement does not begin to make up for all the pay and benefit concessions over the last 20 years. The proposed pay raises certainly don’t make up for all they have lost to inflation, their health benefits haven’t been restored, and their pensions aren’t coming back after having been replaced by 401(k) plans.
Boeing claims it does not have the money due to all its problems. For example, the 20-month grounding of its best-selling plane due to design flaws and terrible safety record, among other things. Boeing created its problems, including by getting rid of its experienced workforce in order to increase its profits on the backs of workers.
The capitalist class feasted on these profits to the tune of 31 billion dollars in stock dividends. Boeing even continued the dividend payouts when it was already losing massive amounts of money in 2019 and 2020. They also paid out 43.5 billion for stock buy backs in order to enrich the capitalists even more.
Boeing may not have the money right now. But the capitalist class and investors who enriched themselves all these years, do. That’s the workers’ money. But for the Boeing workers to get their hands on the money, they are going to have to go beyond Boeing and make it a class fight.