A lot of eyes will be on the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) this year as it takes part in one of the most significant labor negotiations of recent times. Boeing is one of just two major commercial aircraft makers in the world. It’s an export powerhouse and a standard-bearer for American industrial and technological achievement. It’s also a company that’s overdue for a course correction.

A terrifying January 5 incident in which a door plug fell out of a two-month-old Boeing 737 over Portland isn’t even the latest. On March 7, a Boeing 777-200 lost a tire after takeoff from San Francisco. And those come after 346 people lost their lives in crashes in Ethiopia and Indonesia in 2018 and 2019, when faulty sensors triggered an automated system in the 737 MAX that had not been disclosed to pilots; that system forced the jet’s nose down, which caused the crashes. In 2021, the company agreed to pay $2.5 billion to settle charges that it conspired to defraud Federal Aviation Administration inspectors and later cover up that fraud. Between its image problems and production delays that followed a disastrous decision to globalize and outsource production of its 787, Boeing has been losing market share to Airbus, its principal competitor.

“We need to bargain and save them from themselves,” said Brandon Bryant, directing business representative at Machinists District Lodge W24 in Gladstone, Oregon. Bryant is taking part in the national negotiations with Boeing that began March 8. “Boeing’s not doing really well. We think there’s a solid future ahead of us, but they have to partner with the IAM. We have to be the valuable stakeholders in this company to get them back to being successful.”