Boeing and its engineering union reached a tentative contract agreement Friday. The engineers who design planes that occasionally forget how to fly have successfully negotiated better terms for continuing to design planes that occasionally forget how to fly.
The union did not disclose specifics. Smart move. Nothing builds confidence in aerospace manufacturing like hearing the people who calculate wing stress tolerances needed to strike to get what a Chipotle shift manager makes.
This comes after Boeing spent the last few years proving that corporate cost-cutting and commercial aviation pair together like whiskey and driving. The engineers apparently wanted compensation that reflects the unique psychological burden of watching executives blame them for problems created by executives.
Retail traders heard this news and immediately checked if BA calls were cheap. They were not cheap. They bought them anyway. Some guy in Michigan just put his mortgage payment into weekly options because he thinks labor peace means the planes will stop having doors fall off mid-flight. They won't. But he'll learn that lesson after expiration.
The tentative agreement now goes to a vote. Union members will read through hundreds of pages of contract language written by lawyers who bill more per hour than the engineers make per day. Then they'll vote yes because the alternative is letting management pick their healthcare plan, which at Boeing probably involves prayer and duct tape.
This is excellent news for everyone who enjoys flying on aircraft assembled by people who just spent months arguing about whether they can afford rent. Nothing says structural integrity like workplace tension and drawn-out contract disputes.
The stock moved up slightly. Investors celebrated the end of a labor dispute at a company that's one software glitch away from becoming a case study. Buy the dip, they said. The dip bought them.
Photo by Forsaken Films on Unsplash
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