Safran Seats workers strike in Gainesville; union cites overtime dispute

By GvilleTX Newsroom

Gainesville employees represented by Teamsters Local 767 were on strike at Safran Seats by Sept. 24, 2026, over a contract dispute involving required overtime and pay, according to an International Brotherhood of Teamsters announcement.

The Teamsters called the walkout an unfair-labor-practice strike. That is the union’s characterization, not a ruling by the National Labor Relations Board.

Members voted against Safran’s proposal Sept. 18 because of its mandatory-overtime language, the union said. Local 767 then resumed bargaining with a demand that the requirement be removed.

An employee identified in the announcement as a Gainesville worker with two decades at Safran said employees also sought the return of holiday pay. The worker said raises should reach employees whose earnings had already reached the ceiling of their pay scales.

An earlier agreement posted by Local 767 documents protections governing extra hours. Safran had to look first for volunteers qualified to perform the work. The agreement barred compulsory overtime on schedules consisting of three 12-hour days or four 10-hour days, and prohibited requiring employees to exceed the hours listed for overtime assignments.

That document covered September 2020 through September 2024 and provided for annual renewal unless either side submitted the required notice requesting changes.

The Teamsters said its Gainesville members build airplane seats. The city’s fiscal 2026 budget records a broader workforce at Safran Seats USA; its employer count is not a count of striking workers.

| Workforce covered | Reported employment |

| --- | ---: |

| Gainesville members, per the Teamsters | More than 350 |

| Safran Seats USA, city’s 2025 employer table | 1,007 |

Under NLRB guidance, qualifying unfair-labor-practice strikers are protected against permanent replacement and generally are entitled to return when the strike ends, absent serious misconduct. Economic strikers can face permanent replacement.

Before the walkout, Safran’s worldwide business reported growth in first-half adjusted revenue and recurring operating income and raised its annual operating-income forecast. Those company results describe the parent group, not the Gainesville plant. Safran attributed improved Aircraft Interiors earnings partly to aftermarket business and higher original-equipment prices in Cabin and Seats.

Elsewhere in North Texas, IAM District 776 reported that members at Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth ratified a contract in June with no mandatory overtime, more vacation and scheduled wage increases. According to the IAM, that agreement continues through June 2031.