Crippling Boeing strike lastly ends after seven weeks as staff approve new pay deal

Workers at troubled Boeing have approved a pay deal, ending a bitter seven-week strike at its factory in Seattle.

Around 30,000 of the US aircraft-maker’s employees walked out on September 13, slowing aircraft production and plunging the company further into crisis.

The stoppage was estimated to have been costing Boeing £77million per day in lost revenues, while last week the firm tapped investors for £18.4billion, the largest sum ever raised by a US company.

The mammoth fundraising followed warnings the group could lose its investment-grade credit rating, making it more expensive to borrow money and potentially exacerbating the pressure on its finances.

But overnight on Monday, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said 59 per cent of striking Boeing workers had voted in favour of a new deal with the company and would be able to return to work from today. 

The agreement includes a 38 per cent pay rise for workers over the next four years as well as a one-off £9,220 bonus and changes to employee retirement plans. Boeing has also promised to build its new aircraft in the Seattle area.

‘While the past few months have been difficult for all of us, we are all part of the same team,’ said Boeing boss Kelly Ortberg, in charge since August, after the union vote.