United States | News & Politics

Oct 9 (Reuters) - Talks between Boeing (BA.N) and its key manufacturing union broke down, and no negotiations are currently planned as the financially damaging strike heads into a fourth week. The company said on Tuesday it withdrew its pay offer to around 33,000 U.S. factory workers, saying the union had not considered its proposals seriously after two days of talks. The stalemate shows no signs of resolution, a person briefed on the talks said. "Unfortunately, the union did not seriously consider our proposals," Boeing Commercial Airplanes head Stephanie Pope said in a note to the employees, calling the union's demands "non-negotiable". "Further negotiations do not make sense at this point," she said. The breakdown compounds financial and production problems at Boeing, one of the two primary global commercial aircraft makers. The company has been burning cash in 2024 as it struggles to recover from a January mid-air panel blowout on a new plane that exposed weak safety protocols and spurred U.S. regulators to curb its production. Earlier this year, Boeing replaced its CEO Dave Calhoun with Kelly Ortberg, who started in August with the hope to pull together a labor deal and shore up the company's reputation with customers and regulators. So far, none of that has happened.

Boeing is now examining options to raise billions of dollars to shore up its balance sheet. Reuters reported that it was looking to sell stock and equity-like securities, with its prized investment grade credit rating at risk. The company has also introduced temporary furloughs for thousands of salaried employees, while the factories producing its best-selling 737 MAX and its 767 and 777 planes are shut. Shares of the U.S. planemaker were down 1.7% in premarket trading on Wednesday. The stock has lost more than 40% of its value in 2024, with a 5% fall since the strike began on Sept. 13. Referring to the two days of negotiations, Pope said, "Our team bargained in good faith and made new and improved proposals to try to reach a compromise, including increases in take-home pay and retirement." The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union pushed back on those assertions, saying that Boeing was "hell-bent on standing on the non-negotiated offer" proposed last month. "They refused to propose any wage increases, vacation/sick leave accrual, progression, ratification bonus, or the 401k Match/SCRC Contribution. They also would not reinstate the defined benefit pension," it said. The union, which represents factory workers on the west coast, wants a 40% pay rise over four years and the restoration of a defined-benefit pension that was taken away in the contract a decade ago. More than 90% of workers voted down an offer of a 25% pay rise over four years before going on strike. Boeing made an improved offer last month that it described as its "best and final", which would give workers a 30% raise and restore a performance bonus, but the union said a survey of its members found that was not enough.

Zeteo’s editor-in-chief denounced the mainstream media’s coverage of Gaza while accepting the DAWN Integrity award in Washington D.C.

A long-shot congressional challenger in Virginia is so determined to debate the Democratic incumbent one more time that he created an AI chatbot to stand in for the candidate in case he's a no-show.

A documentary about the Trump administration's family separation policy will not air before Election Day because MSNBC is concerned about offending the Republican presidential nominee, according to new reports.

A Post investigation found that many defendants were unaware of the technology’s role in linking them to crimes, leading to questions of fairness.

Archived version: https://archive.ph/0Bl9F

Hurricane Milton was moving "erratically" through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida on Monday, the US National Hurricane Center said, warning it will likely soon become a major hurricane.

Helene’s size and speed worsened everything from its storm surge to its extreme flooding in the mountains. And another hurricane was coming right on Helene’s heels.

A beloved building belonging to former President Donald Trump appears to be drowning in debt as problematic financial deadlines loom, according to a new financial analysis.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/14010304

State constitutional rights to abortion are on the ballot in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New York, Nevada, and South Dakota.

Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wisconsin have initiatives on the ballot to ban noncitizens from voting. It's already illegal, but the initiatives will probably be used to harass and disenfranchise minorities and activists, if they pass.

Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, D.C., Alaska, and Missouri will vote to adopt or prohibit ranked choice voting.

Alaska, California, Massachusetts, and Missouri will vote to adopt a $15-18 minimum wage.

And so on. Ballotpedia has a complete list.

Go register to vote, or check your registration if you've already registered.

Billionaire tech executive Elon Musk cast the upcoming presidential election in dire terms during a Saturday appearance with Donald Trump, calling the Republican presidential nominee the only candidate “to preserve democracy in America.”

The CEO of SpaceX and Tesla who also purchased X, Musk joined Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the former president survived an assassination attempt in July. He warned “this will be the last election” if Trump doesn’t win and, clad in a black-on-black cap bearing the “Make America Great Again” slogan of Trump’s campaign, appeared to acknowledge the foreboding nature of his remarks.

“As you can see I am not just MAGA — I am Dark MAGA,” he said.

The appearance marked the first time Musk joined one of Trump’s trademark rallies and represented the growing alliance between the two men in the final stretch of a competitive presidential election. Musk created a super PAC supporting the Republican nominee that has been spending heavily on get-out-the-vote efforts in the final months of the campaign. Trump has said he would tap Musk to lead a government efficiency commission if he regains the White House.

Trump joined Musk in August for a rare public conversation on X, an overwhelmingly friendly chat that spanned more than two hours. In it, the former president largely focused on the July assassination attempt, illegal immigration and his plans to cut government regulations.

Before a massive crowd on Saturday, Musk sought to portray Trump as a champion of free speech, arguing that Democrats want “to take away your freedom of speech, they want to take away your right to bear arms, they want to take away your fight to vote, effectively.” Musk went on to criticize a California effort to ban voter ID requirements.

Saturday’s rally took place at the same property where a gunman’s bullets grazed Trump’s right ear and killed his supporter, Corey Comperatore. The shooting left multiple others injured.

Several members of Comperatore’s family, as well as other attendees and first responders from the July rally, returned to the site on Saturday. Also appearing with the former president were his running mate Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance, son Eric Trump, daughter-in-law and RNC co-chair Lara Trump, along with Pennsylvania lawmakers and sheriffs.