HAZELWOOD, Mo. – From Hazelwood to the nation’s capital, the dialogue is ratcheting up as week nine of the St. Louis Boeing strike appears to be headed for week 10.

Hundreds gathered at a raucous union rally in Hazelwood on Wednesday.

U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, D-Vermont, echoed their voices in a Senate hearing a couple of hours earlier. He’s also written a letter to Boeing President Kelly Ortberg about the more than 3,200 striking Boeing workers in the St. Louis.

Those workers include those who build jet fighters and missiles for our national defense.

The workers have rejected the company’s past contract offers while calling into question a better contract for Boeing union workers in Seattle just last year, along with salaries and separation agreements in the tens of millions of dollars for Boeing executives.

“It’s the same playbook. We’re seeing it everywhere. It’s called corporate greed,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler shouted at the rally.

“I’m here to tell Boeing, you’re not just fighting 3,200 workers here in St. Louis, you’re fighting 600,000 IAM members across North America,” IAM International President Brian Bryant said to the cheering union members.

Boeing Chief Labor Counsel Scott Mayer faced a U.S. Senate committee hearing on his nomination for the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday morning. Tensions from the St. Louis work stoppage, spilled into the hearing.

“Ddo you think it’s fair that workers lose their health benefits during this strike while the CEO gets $18 million for 4 months work, sound fair to you?” Sen. Sanders asked.

“Senator, I’m not going to comment on the compensation of other executives,” Mayer resoponded.

“I have to tell you, with 3,000 plus residents of my state on strike, unable to work, unable to get health care, while your CEO is getting paid $31 million (per year), that doesn’t sound like fairness to me,” U.S. Senator Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, said to Mayer.

They repeated comparisons to Boeing workers in Seattle, who got a $12,000 bonus as part of their new contract last year. Workers in St. Louis are seeking a $10,000 bonus, which Boeing has yet to offer. However, Seattle workers last got a new contract bonus nearly a decade ago. St. Louis workers got an $8,000 bonus with their new contract just three years ago.

Boeing officials had no comment on Wednesday’s developments.

Mayer told the Senate committee that was he was not involved in the St. Louis negotiations.