(Bloomberg) -- It’s been more than a week since Boeing Co. broke off contract talks with the union representing 33,000 striking hourly workers. But that doesn’t mean that all efforts to end the monthlong labor impasse have ground to a halt.
Federal mediators check in frequently with the deadlocked officials, teasing out details of what they’re thinking and paying close attention to even the slightest wording changes. They’re looking for shifts that would merit summoning teams from Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers back for more negotiations, hoping the next round might finally bring a breakthrough.
“We are in constant contact with both parties,” said Beth Schindler, the associate deputy director of field operations for the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, an independent government agency that provides mediation and arbitration services to try to end labor disputes. “We are very active behind the scenes, even when they’re not at the table. If there’s momentum happening, we want to capitalize on it.”
A Seattle native, Schindler is one of three veteran mediators working to end Boeing’s first major strike in 16 years. The labor strife has shut down the company’s manufacturing across the Pacific Northwest and squeezed its already fragile finances, posing a crucial early test for Kelly Ortberg, Boeing’s new chief executive officer.
During the interview, Schindler described the process she and her colleagues are using to gradually nudge the two sides toward a resolution. She declined to divulge details of the dispute or what’s been said behind closed doors because the talks are confidential.
On the surface, there doesn’t appear to have been much progress since Boeing’s Machinists walked off the job on Sept. 13 after a nearly unanimous vote to strike. Negotiators for Boeing and IAM District 751 have only held five days of talks during the nearly five-week-long strike. Each side has proclaimed its willingness to reach a deal and blamed the other for being unreasonable.
“The relationship between the IAM and Boeing management has always been highly adversarial,” said Douglas S. Harned, a senior analyst for aerospace & defense at Bernstein. “At this time, Boeing needs this strike to end, given huge pressures on the company.”
Then again, the IAM district has a history of long strikes at Boeing — the average is 58 days, according to Robert Spingarn of Melius Research LLC. And union officials have been preparing workers for years for a long hold-out.
“This isn’t necessarily unusual and in particular for these parties, if you look back historically,” said Schindler, who’s been with FMCS since 1996 in Seattle, helping on previous Boeing strikes. “I have no doubt that they are working behind the scenes, even if independently, to figure out what their next steps are.”
Both sides have dug in since the strike began, with union officials pushing to reinstate a defined pension plan suspended as part of a 2014 deal that is widely despised by their members. Boeing raised tensions by skipping the collective bargaining process and taking a proposal directly to members. More recently, the planemaker has added to employees’ anxiety by announcing a 10% workforce reduction.
Myla Hite, with 40 years of experience in labor and management, is the primary mediator and began building a rapport with the two sides even before it was apparent that Boeing workers would strike. Javier Ramirez, a deputy director of FMCS, is also involved.
They are among the agency’s most experienced mediators, a reflection of the importance of Boeing, the complexity of the talks, and the implications for the US economy.
“We’re looking for rocks to turn over to see if there’s something underneath,” Schindler said.
(Updates with analyst comment in seventh paragraph.)
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