Boeing factory workers gather on a picket line during the first day of a strike near the entrance of a plant in Renton, Washington. Reuters
Boeing factory workers gather on a picket line during the first day of a strike near the entrance of a plant in Renton, Washington. Reuters
Boeing factory workers gather on a picket line during the first day of a strike near the entrance of a plant in Renton, Washington. Reuters
Boeing factory workers gather on a picket line during the first day of a strike near the entrance of a plant in Renton, Washington. Reuters

Boeing makes 'final' 30% pay rise to striking workers but union rejects vote


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Boeing made a “best and final” pay offer to thousands of striking workers on Monday, but its largest union declined to put it to a vote, saying the plane maker had refused to bargain and that the proposal fell short of members' demands.

The US company offered to reinstate a performance bonus, improve retirement benefits and double a ratification bonus to $6,000 if the workers accept the offer by Friday, according to a letter it sent to International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers officials.

Boeing is under intensifying pressure to end the strike that could cost it several billion dollars, fraying the company's already strained finances and threatening a downgrade of its credit rating.

But IAM District 751 said it would not hold a new vote on the offer, which is contingent on being approved by Friday and was not negotiated with the union.

“Logistically, we don't have the ability to set up a vote for 33,000 people in a few days like that anyway. Plus, it missed the mark on many of the things our members said were important to them,” said Jon Holden, president of IAM District 751, who is the lead negotiator on the Boeing contract.

He added that the union was to have surveyed members on Monday evening to get their views on the latest Boeing proposal.

“We are not obligated to vote on their offer,” Mr Holden said in an interview with Reuters. “We may, down the road. But our hope is that we can get into some discussion so we can actually address the need of our members.”

He said the Boeing proposal did not fully address priorities around retirement, wages and other issues.

Boeing said its latest offer, which came after unsuccessful federal mediation last week, made significant improvements and addressed feedback from the union and employees.

“We first presented the offer to the union and then transparently shared the details with employees,” the company said.

More than 32,000 Boeing workers in Portland and Seattle walked off the job on September 13 in the union's first strike since 2008. The workers, who have sought 40 per cent higher pay and the restoration of a performance bonus, rejected a previous offer by the company.

The union represents the workers who build Boeing's bestselling 737 Max and other jets.

Boeing's commercial planes chief Stephanie Pope had told workers before the strike that the company had held nothing back and that its offer at that time was the best deal they would get.

“Employees knew Boeing executives could do better, and this shows the workers were right all along,” IAM president Brian Bryant said in a statement.

The strike is the latest event in a tumultuous year for the company that began with a January incident in which a door panel detached from a new 737 Max jet in mid-air.

An earlier tentative deal between Boeing and the union that offered a 25 per cent raise over four years and a commitment that a new plane would be manufactured in the Seattle area if launched during the four-year agreement was voted down by more than 90 per cent of workers this month.

Boeing has frozen hiring and started furloughs for thousands of US employees to reduce costs amid the strike. Boeing has planned for workers to take one week of furlough every four weeks on a rolling basis for the duration of the strike.

The extensive furloughs show that new chief executive Kelly Ortberg is preparing Boeing to weather a prolonged strike that may not be easily resolved given the anger among rank-and-file workers.

North American unions have capitalised on tight labour markets to win hefty contracts at the bargaining table, with mainline pilots, car workers and others scoring big raises last year.

The IAM said 5,000 of its members in Wichita, Kansas, went on strike against Cessna business jet maker Textron starting on Monday.

UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Other key dates
  • Finals draw: December 2
  • Finals (including semi-finals and third-placed game): June 5–9, 2019
  • Euro 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
  • Euro 2020 play-offs: March 26–31, 2020
Normcore explained

Something of a fashion anomaly, normcore is essentially a celebration of the unremarkable. The term was first popularised by an article in New York magazine in 2014 and has been dubbed “ugly”, “bland’ and "anti-style" by fashion writers. It’s hallmarks are comfort, a lack of pretentiousness and neutrality – it is a trend for those who would rather not stand out from the crowd. For the most part, the style is unisex, favouring loose silhouettes, thrift-shop threads, baseball caps and boyish trainers. It is important to note that normcore is not synonymous with cheapness or low quality; there are high-fashion brands, including Parisian label Vetements, that specialise in this style. Embraced by fashion-forward street-style stars around the globe, it’s uptake in the UAE has been relatively slow.

The Details

Article 15
Produced by: Carnival Cinemas, Zee Studios
Directed by: Anubhav Sinha
Starring: Ayushmann Khurrana, Kumud Mishra, Manoj Pahwa, Sayani Gupta, Zeeshan Ayyub
Our rating: 4/5 

Ferrari 12Cilindri specs

Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12

Power: 819hp

Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm

Price: From Dh1,700,000

Available: Now

Multitasking pays off for money goals

Tackling money goals one at a time cost financial literacy expert Barbara O'Neill at least $1 million.

That's how much Ms O'Neill, a distinguished professor at Rutgers University in the US, figures she lost by starting saving for retirement only after she had created an emergency fund, bought a car with cash and purchased a home.

"I tell students that eventually, 30 years later, I hit the million-dollar mark, but I could've had $2 million," Ms O'Neill says.

Too often, financial experts say, people want to attack their money goals one at a time: "As soon as I pay off my credit card debt, then I'll start saving for a home," or, "As soon as I pay off my student loan debt, then I'll start saving for retirement"."

People do not realise how costly the words "as soon as" can be. Paying off debt is a worthy goal, but it should not come at the expense of other goals, particularly saving for retirement. The sooner money is contributed, the longer it can benefit from compounded returns. Compounded returns are when your investment gains earn their own gains, which can dramatically increase your balances over time.

"By putting off saving for the future, you are really inhibiting yourself from benefiting from that wonderful magic," says Kimberly Zimmerman Rand , an accredited financial counsellor and principal at Dragonfly Financial Solutions in Boston. "If you can start saving today ... you are going to have a lot more five years from now than if you decide to pay off debt for three years and start saving in year four."

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Fund-raising tips for start-ups

Develop an innovative business concept

Have the ability to differentiate yourself from competitors

Put in place a business continuity plan after Covid-19

Prepare for the worst-case scenario (further lockdowns, long wait for a vaccine, etc.) 

Have enough cash to stay afloat for the next 12 to 18 months

Be creative and innovative to reduce expenses

Be prepared to use Covid-19 as an opportunity for your business

* Tips from Jassim Al Marzooqi and Walid Hanna

MATCH INFO

Uefa Champions League, last 16, first leg

Tottenham Hotspur v Borussia Dortmund, midnight (Thursday), BeIN Sports

Specs

Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric

Range: Up to 610km

Power: 905hp

Torque: 985Nm

Price: From Dh439,000

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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe

Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010

Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille

Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm

Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year

Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”

Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners

TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013 

The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre turbo 4-cyl

Transmission: eight-speed auto

Power: 190bhp

Torque: 300Nm

Price: Dh169,900

On sale: now 

Specs

Engine: 51.5kW electric motor

Range: 400km

Power: 134bhp

Torque: 175Nm

Price: From Dh98,800

Available: Now

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The biog

Simon Nadim has completed 7,000 dives. 

The hardest dive in the UAE is the German U-boat 110m down off the Fujairah coast. 

As a child, he loved the documentaries of Jacques Cousteau

He also led a team that discovered the long-lost portion of the Ines oil tanker. 

If you are interested in diving, he runs the XR Hub Dive Centre in Fujairah

 

The Uefa Awards winners

Uefa Men's Player of the Year: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

Uefa Women's Player of the Year: Lucy Bronze (Lyon)

Best players of the 2018/19 Uefa Champions League

Goalkeeper: Alisson (Liverpool)

Defender: Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool)

Midfielder: Frenkie de Jong (Ajax)

Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

Uefa President's Award: Eric Cantona

Family reunited

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.

She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.

She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.

The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.

She was held in her native country a year later.

The bio

Favourite vegetable: Broccoli

Favourite food: Seafood

Favourite thing to cook: Duck l'orange

Favourite book: Give and Take by Adam Grant, one of his professors at University of Pennsylvania

Favourite place to travel: Home in Kuwait.

Favourite place in the UAE: Al Qudra lakes

How will Gen Alpha invest?

Mark Chahwan, co-founder and chief executive of robo-advisory firm Sarwa, forecasts that Generation Alpha (born between 2010 and 2024) will start investing in their teenage years and therefore benefit from compound interest.

“Technology and education should be the main drivers to make this happen, whether it’s investing in a few clicks or their schools/parents stepping up their personal finance education skills,” he adds.

Mr Chahwan says younger generations have a higher capacity to take on risk, but for some their appetite can be more cautious because they are investing for the first time. “Schools still do not teach personal finance and stock market investing, so a lot of the learning journey can feel daunting and intimidating,” he says.

He advises millennials to not always start with an aggressive portfolio even if they can afford to take risks. “We always advise to work your way up to your risk capacity, that way you experience volatility and get used to it. Given the higher risk capacity for the younger generations, stocks are a favourite,” says Mr Chahwan.

Highlighting the role technology has played in encouraging millennials and Gen Z to invest, he says: “They were often excluded, but with lower account minimums ... a customer with $1,000 [Dh3,672] in their account has their money working for them just as hard as the portfolio of a high get-worth individual.”

Updated: September 24, 2024, 4:27 AM