RENTON, Washington — The atmosphere of the Boeing Machinists’ first day on strike was joyful, as thousands of union workers spent the day picketing outside quieted airplane factories around the Puget Sound region.

On Friday morning in Renton, workers waved signs near busy intersections and outside factory gates, carrying red and white signs and wearing T-shirts sporting their union names or their Boeing teams. They danced to music from portable speakers and grabbed bags of communal snacks amid a cacophony of bell-ringing and car horns.

Within sight of the picket lines were some of the 737 fuselages that union members had personally worked on, in various stages of completion parked behind the factory fences.

Production has stopped, as of 12:01 a.m. Friday, following the Boeing Machinists’ overwhelming rejection of management’s contract offer. Boeing’s 33,000 blue-collar workers have been instructed to stay out indefinitely.

International Association of Machinists District 751 President Jon Holden announced the results Thursday evening, saying, “This is about respect, this is about addressing the past and this is about fighting for our future.”

Federal mediators will meet with Boeing and union leaders in coming days, the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service announced Friday afternoon. That dispute resolution process could begin as early as Monday.

Workers said the proposed deal, which offered a 25% general wage increase, enhanced retirement benefits and made other changes related to mandatory overtime and parental leave, didn’t go far enough. On the picket line, union members said they wanted to see much larger wage increases than what the company had put forward.

Boeing’s Puget Sound-region workers build the company’s 737, 767 and 777 planes, and military derivatives like the P-8A Poseidon patrol aircraft. Holden said 94.6% of all members voted to reject the contract and 96% voted to strike, more than the two-thirds majority required by union rules to authorize a walkout.

Boeing said in a statement late Thursday night that the company remains committed to its negotiations with the International Association of Machinists.

“The message was clear that the tentative agreement we reached with IAM leadership was not acceptable to the members,” Boeing said in a statement sent at 11:15 p.m., 45 minutes before workers went on strike. “We remain committed to resetting our relationship with our employees and the union, and we are ready to get back to the table to reach a new agreement.”

In Renton, union members differed on how long they thought the strike would last — a month? Into 2025? In 2008, the last time the Machinists went on strike, it lasted eight weeks.

All said they were planned to stay for a monthslong haul but hoped it wouldn’t come to that. The strike isn’t likely to affect commercial air travel.

“We’re going to get back to the table as quickly as we can,” Holden said Thursday. “We’ll certainly engage so that we can try to resolve the issues and address what the members’ needs are.”

Dung K. Nguyen, an electrician in Renton, has worked at Boeing for 27 years. She said she’s seen a decrease in benefits and raises that haven’t kept up with inflation. She wants a restoration of the traditional pension, which was taken away a decade ago.

“We stand here for the new generations,” she said.

That includes workers like Reggie Taylor, who picketed next to Nguyen. He started at Boeing a year ago after working on the road at another aerospace and defense company. Workers who have been there decades, he said, told him they haven’t had a raise that kept up with the cost of living.

“Like myself,” Dung interjected. “I haven’t had a raise.”

Union members pointed to Boeing’s need to find and retain skilled employees and their work in a profession with no room for error.

“We are building an airplane that’s going thousands of feet in the sky with passengers,” said Hau Vo, who has worked in quality assurance for six months. “We just want a fair deal.”

Outside the Renton plant, non-Machinists union Boeing employees walked past the picket lines on their lunch breaks, with some saying hello to the Machinists or wishing them good luck.

Members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, Boeing’s white-collar union, will continue working, as required by their contract. SPEEA President John Dimas said in a message to members that the union supports the Machinists, and members shouldn’t volunteer to do any work normally done by a Machinist.

Biden administration officials are in touch with Boeing and the Machinists union and have encouraged both sides to negotiate in good faith, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a Friday briefing.

“We believe that they need to negotiate in good faith and work towards an agreement that gives employees benefits that they deserve … and it would make the company stronger as well,” she said.

Machinists union members have said they’ll continue picketing for the duration of the strike.

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