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Union hopes rally will pressure Boeing ( BA ) to raise wage offer

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33,000 Boeing ( BA ) workers on strike since Sept 13

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Boeing ( BA ) cutting 10% of workforce to help avoid debt

downgrade

By Joe Brock

SEATTLE, Oct 15 - Boeing ( BA ) factory workers will

hold a large rally in Seattle on Tuesday to demand a better wage

deal, mounting pressure on new CEO Kelly Ortberg to end a bitter

strike that has plunged the troubled planemaker further into

financial crisis.

Around 33,000 unionized West Coast workers, most in

Washington state, have been on strike since Sept. 13, demanding

a 40% wage increase spread over four years and halting

production of Boeing's ( BA ) best-selling 737 MAX and its 767 and 777

widebodies.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace

Workers (IAM) and Boeing ( BA ) leadership are locked in a paralyzing

blame game over the strike, with both sides filing charges

accusing the other of unfair labor practices during

negotiations.

Boeing ( BA ) last week withdrew its latest offer, which included a

30% wage increase over four years, after talks also attended by

federal mediators broke down.

U.S. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su met with Boeing ( BA ) and the

IAM in Seattle on Monday in a bid to break the deadlock, in her

first in-person intervention.

Senator Maria Cantwell and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal,

both Democrats from Washington state, were due to speak at the

rally at 12 p.m. PT (1900 GMT), the IAM said.

"This rally is more than just a gathering - it's our battle

cry to the company that we are standing strong," the IAM said in

a statement.

Its members have been holding smaller picket lines in front

of Boeing ( BA ) sites throughout the strike.

Boeing ( BA ) announced last week that it would cut 17,000 jobs in

a bid to shore up its finances and help to avoid its credit

rating being downgraded to "junk" status. In mid-November,

Boeing ( BA ) will send out 60-day notices to employees being laid off.

Investors and regulators have had Boeing ( BA ) under the

microscope since a door panel flew off a near-new 737 MAX jet in

midair in January.

Since then, the planemaker's shares have dropped 40%, the

Federal Aviation Administration limited its 737 MAX production

levels, hampering output even before the strike and its CEO was

replaced.