The ball is back in aerospace stock Boeing’s (BA) court now, as the union in St. Louis reportedly approved a four-year contract by an overwhelming margin: fully 90%. The problem, though, is that this is not Boeing’s contract, and now, Boeing will have to approve the contract the union sends back or keep the strike going. Boeing investors, meanwhile, were not exactly happy about this, and shares slipped fractionally in Friday afternoon’s trading.
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Word from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) says that the contract has been accepted by the union, and all Boeing needs to do now is do likewise to immediately end the strike and get everybody back to work. However, Boeing has previously shown no interest in even considering the new contract, leaving negotiations once more at a standstill.
Dan Gillian, Boeing Defense Vice President, offered a comment, saying “It’s unfortunate that union leadership led its members to vote on something that isn’t real.” Which is not true, strictly speaking; the contract does exist. That Boeing will not recognize its existence does not mean it does not exist. But Boeing seems to be sticking to its guns from the last contract, and that will put the union in a bad position. Either it takes the deal, or the point is rendered moot once Boeing cycles through the replacement workers it is already working on bringing in.
Just to Make It Worse…
Then, further bad news landed for Boeing as a race discrimination lawsuit fired up in St. Louis County. Two black women filed suit against Boeing: a pair of accountants who formerly worked there. The two accused Boeing of maintaining a “hostile work environment,” and also of engaging in “workplace retaliation.”
The former employees in question accused Boeing staff of requiring them to complete a “daily activity log.” Apparently, white workers were not required to complete these logs, or if they were, were only required to complete on a less-frequent basis. The former employees’ logs were also “unfairly scrutinized,” reports noted, with the management at Boeing accusing one of them of “stealing time.” As any long-time Dilbert reader knows, that is an umbrella term that can mean just about anything.
Is Boeing a Good Stock to Buy Right Now?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on BA stock based on 17 Buys and one Hold assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 40.69% rally in its share price over the past year, the average BA price target of $262.88 per share implies 22.76% upside potential.
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