Teamsters strike at Safran Seats in Gainesville, citing mandatory overtime

Teamsters members who build airplane seats at Safran Seats in Gainesville have begun a strike, and their union says mandatory overtime is the main point of dispute. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced the strike by Local 767 members on Sept. 24 and called it an unfair labor practice strike.

According to the union, more than 350 of its members make airplane seats at the Gainesville operation. The Teamsters say workers turned down Safran's proposed contract on Sept. 18 because the offer contained mandatory overtime. Local 767 then went back to negotiations. The union announced the strike six days after the rejection.

Michelle Shero, a longtime Safran employee, set out the workers' goals in the union's announcement. She said they want mandatory overtime eliminated and holiday pay brought back. She said they also want better pay, including for workers who have already reached the top of their pay scale.

Overtime limits have appeared in the contract before. Local 767's published agreement with Safran, dated Sept. 23, 2020, told the company to fill extra hours with qualified volunteers first. It also barred mandatory overtime for employees working three 12-hour days or four 10-hour days.

The unfair labor practice label is the union's allegation, not a finding by the National Labor Relations Board. The label can affect whether strikers get their jobs back. General NLRB guidance says unfair labor practice strikers cannot be permanently replaced and are generally entitled to return when the strike ends, absent serious misconduct. Workers who strike over economic issues can be permanently replaced. That guidance is not a ruling on the Safran strike.

NLRB records show an earlier charge against Safran Seats USA in Gainesville, filed in November 2025. The docket lists a dismissal letter the next month and marks the case closed. That case does not establish wrongdoing in the current dispute.

The strike follows a stronger half-year for Safran's interiors business. In July, the company reported that its Aircraft Interiors division roughly doubled its adjusted recurring operating income in the first half of 2026 compared with a year earlier. Safran pointed to aftermarket activity and original-equipment pricing. It also raised its full-year forecast, though that outlook covers the whole group and not Gainesville alone.

In Fort Worth, about 5,000 IAM District 776 members at Lockheed Martin ratified an agreement in June. Their union said the deal includes no mandatory overtime.

Union members make up a small share of the Texas workforce. 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 cautions that its 2025 estimates leave out October because the federal shutdown halted data collection.

Safran Seats USA said in July that it and North Central Texas College had launched an apprenticeship program on June 1 with three Safran employees. According to the company, the training covers toolmaking, heliarc welding and preproduction machining and is scheduled to continue into summer 2027.