Boeing (NYSE:BA) said Thursday it is expanding plans to hire replacement workers and boost recruitment efforts at its St. Louis-area plant, where 3,200 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837 have been on strike since August 4.
Dan Gillian, Boeing’s (NYSE:BA) top St. Louis executive, told employees in an internal memo that the standoff could continue for weeks or months, and as a result, the company is “immediately expanding the jobs we’re recruiting for, and stepping up our recruitment efforts to increase hiring activities through the end of the year, including more job fairs and advertising.”
The first group of replacement workers for munitions production and assembly mechanics will begin training on Friday, Gillian said.
Union officials said Gillian’s move was mostly a bluff, noting the St. Louis positions require up to several months of training, and obtaining a security clearance needed for many of the defense jobs can take six months.
Missouri’s Senator Hawley used a Senate committee hearing Wednesday that was reviewing President Trump’s nominations to key labor positions – including Boeing’s (BA) chief labor counsel Scott Mayer to the National Labor Relations Board – to criticize the company’s stance in labor talks.
Hawley and other senators slammed Boeing (BA) for awarded substantial compensation packages to recent executives while holding out against the union’s proposals.