The walkout comes nearly a week after talks broke down on negotiations for a labor contract covering some 1,700 workers responsible for assembly of the jumbo-size airlifter.
"We're fed up," said Brian Sullivan, who has worked at the plant since 1985. "The medical issue is the main issue for us. The concessions are too much and the company expected us to take it lying down. We won't."
The strike is expected to ripple throughout plants and small manufacturers employing thousands of workers in more than 40 states, where C-17 engines and parts are designed and built.
The walkout came shortly after the union and management attempted eleventh-hour talks to reach a deal covering pension and medical benefits. On May 4, nearly 80 percent of striking workers rejected a 46-month labor agreement they felt undermined long-existing worker benefits for employees involved in production of one of Boeing's most popular aircraft.
Boeing expressed "deep disappointment" at the walkout, describing its offer as above industry standards. "The union has turned down an excellent offer that surpasses local and industry standards," said Boeing spokeswoman Cindy Anderson. "The company had hoped to avoid a strike, and instead, continue to focus on meeting the needs of its customers."
Workers in Long Beach have built more than 200 C-17 s for the U.S., Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and a NATO-led air force involved in humanitarian missions. The Indian Air Force is also currently pursuing the purchase of 10 C-17 s for military and relief efforts.
Meanwhile, the company maintains its "best and final" offer is more than adequate and called upon a federal mediator to help arbitrate, but the gesture was rejected by the union in the wake of the eleventh-hour talks Monday.
The C-17 plant has not experienced a strike since its inception in the early 1990 s, though other Boeing plants have been targeted frequently in recent years.
A 40-day walkout by workers at Boeing sites in Seattle and Kansas cost the company billions in 2000, and a smaller strike in 2009 shaved hundreds of millions from Boeing's reported $1.31-billion annual profit, the company said at the time.
The strike comes at a time of great uncertainty surrounding the C-17 s future. Boeing has planned to end production in mid-2013, though foreign orders could extend the line well past mid-decade.
Along with the Indian Air Force, several other nations in the Middle East and Asia are interested in the $250 million-plus aircraft.
The C-17 has become a workhorse for some of the globe's largest militaries, hauling vehicles, troops and supplies to battle zones across the world.
In recent years, C-17 s have also been used extensively to ferry medical supplies, food, water and other relief to disaster zones including Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, and most recently, quake-stricken Haiti.
(Kristopher Hanson - Long Beach Press Telegram)
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