Boeing CEO is said to ask workers to avoid crippling strike

Boeing (NYSE:BA) Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg urged union members not to vote in favor of a strike that would suspend most of the aviation giant’s airplane production and disrupt its struggling factory operations.

“I ask you not to sacrifice the opportunity to secure our future together, because of the frustrations of the past,” Ortberg said in a message to workers cited by The Wall Street Journal.

Boeing’s (BA) biggest labor union votes Thursday on a contract that would raise pay by 25% over four years. The agreement also commits the company to building its next new plane in the unionized Pacific Northwest.

Leaders of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union chapter, which represents 33,000 workers, on Sunday reached a deal with management (BA) after weeks of tense negotiations. The contract covers employees who assemble the 737, 767 and 777 jetliners in the Pacific Northwest.

Workers have posted on social media their opposition to the deal and have expressed their discontent with union leaders, the Journal reported.

Ortberg, who started as CEO in the first week of August, said he had talked with workers at Boeing’s (BA) main assembly plants in the area.

“I hope you will choose the bright future ahead, but I also know there are employees considering another path—and it’s one where no one wins,“ Ortberg said.