Teamsters say Safran Seats workers in Gainesville are on strike after rejecting mandatory overtime

Teamsters Local 767 members at Safran Seats in Gainesville were on strike as of Sept. 24, according to the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The dispute centers on mandatory overtime and pay at one of the city's biggest employers.

The union said members voted against Safran's proposed contract on Sept. 18 because it would have made overtime mandatory. The Teamsters also listed two other demands: reinstated holiday pay and better wages for employees already at the top of the pay scale. The union calls the walkout an unfair labor practice strike.

By the union's count, more than 350 aircraft-seat workers make up the Gainesville bargaining unit. That is the size of the group the union represents, not a confirmed count of strikers.

The city's 2025 employer table, part of its fiscal 2026 budget, lists Safran Seats USA with 1,007 employees, more than Gainesville ISD and North Texas Medical Center combined. That figure is not a strike-participation count. The city's fiscal 2024 financial report lists Safran, formerly Zodiac/Weber, with over a third fewer full-time-equivalent jobs in 2024 than in 2015.

The union's label for the strike matters under federal labor law. National Labor Relations Board guidance says employers cannot permanently replace unfair labor practice strikers, who generally get their jobs back when the strike ends unless they commit serious misconduct. Economic strikers can be replaced in some circumstances. The guidance is general, not a ruling on the Safran strike.

The plant has seen a strike before. Zodiac Aerospace told investors in September 2016 that an October 2014 strike had affected the plant's delivery pace and quality standards. In March 2017, Zodiac said the Gainesville recovery was complete, with more than a year of on-time deliveries and a return to profit after losses in fiscal 2015 and 2016.

A separate Gainesville case against Safran Seats USA, No. 16-CA-375816, was filed with the labor board on Nov. 17, 2025. It alleged a violation of Weingarten representation rights. The board's docket records a dismissal letter dated Dec. 29, 2025, and lists the case as closed.

Safran said recurring operating income in its Aircraft Interiors division roughly doubled in the first half of 2026 from the figure it published a year earlier. The company said its Seats business gained from both sales volume and pricing as aftermarket activity grew. The income figures cover the whole division and do not show how the Gainesville plant performed.

In Fort Worth, IAM District 776 members at Lockheed Martin ratified a five-year contract on June 14. The Machinists union said the agreement has no mandatory overtime and gives workers more vacation.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimated that about one in 20 Texas wage and salary workers belonged to a union in 2025, roughly half the national rate. The agency's 2025 estimates leave out October because of the federal shutdown.