Vote to continue strike exposes Boeing workers’ anger over lost pensions

Associated Press

Since going on strike last month, Boeing factory workers repeated one theme from their picket lines: They want their pensions back. Boeing froze its traditional pension plan when union members narrowly agreed to the move in exchange for keeping production of the company’s airline planes in the Seattle area. Like other large employers, the aerospace giant argued back then that ballooning pension payments threatened Boeing’s long-term financial stability. Yet the company now is deeply in debt, and the extension of the strike that has crippled production plunges Boeing into more financial danger. Yet the company so far is holding firm in its refusal to restore pensions for the 33,000 machinists.