Boeing factory workers strike for first time since 2008 after

Boeing‘s factory workers walked off the job after midnight on Friday, halting production of the company’s bestselling airplanes after staff overwhelmingly rejected a new labor contract.

It’s a costly development for the manufacturer that has struggled to ramp up production and restore its reputation following safety crises.

Workers in the Seattle area and in Oregon voted 94.6% against a tentative agreement that Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers unveiled Sunday. The workers voted 96% in favor of a strike, far more than the two-thirds vote required for a work stoppage.

“We strike at midnight,” said IAM District 751 President Jon Holden at a news conference where he announced the vote’s results. He characterized it as an “unfair labor practice strike,” alleging that factory workers had experienced “discriminatory conduct, coercive questioning, unlawful surveillance and we had unlawful promise of benefits.”

He said Boeing needs to bargain in good faith.

Boeing didn’t comment on his claims.

“The message was clear that the tentative agreement we reached with IAM leadership was not acceptable to the members,” the company said in a statement. “We remain committed to resetting our relationship with our employees and the union, and we are ready to get back to the table to reach a new agreement.”

Stephanie Pope, CEO of Boeing’s commercial airplane unit, told machinists earlier this week that the tentative deal was the “best contract we’ve ever presented.”

“In past negotiations, the thinking was we should hold something back so we can ratify the contract on a second vote,” she said. “We talked about that strategy this time, but we deliberately chose a new path.”

The tentative proposal included 25% wage increases and other improvements to health-care and retirement benefits, though the union had sought raises of about 40%. Workers had complained about the agreement, saying that it didn’t cover the increased cost of living.

The vote is a blow to CEO Kelly Ortberg, who has been in the top job for five weeks. A day before the vote, he had urged workers to accept the contract and not to strike, saying that it would jeopardize the company’s recovery.

Under the tentative agreement, Boeing had promised to build its next commercial jet in the Seattle area, a bid to win over workers after the company moved the 787 Dreamliner production to a nonunion factory in South Carolina.

The agreement, if approved, would have been the first fully negotiated contract for Boeing machinists in 16 years. Boeing…