Boeing’s striking machinists to vote on latest contract : NPR

Nov 05, 2024

Joel Rose

Boeing workers gather on a picket line near the entrance to a Boeing facility during an ongoing strike in Seattle, Wash. About 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 have been on strike for nearly seven weeks. David Ryder/Getty Images hide caption

Boeing’s machinists union leaders are endorsing the company’s latest contract offer, setting the stage for a vote on Monday that could end the seven-week strike.

“It is time for our Members to lock in these gains and confidently declare victory,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 said in a statement announcing the agreement late Thursday.

The union, which represents 33,000 workers, voted down two previous proposals from the company. The ongoing strike has halted production at the company’s factories in the Pacific Northwest since Sept. 13th.

Boeing’s latest proposal would boost wages by 38% over four years — up from the company’s most recent proposal of 35%, though short of the 40% the union wanted. The new offer also includes a $12,000 ratification bonus, up from $7,000 in the previous vote.

But there is one key union demand where Boeing has not budged. The machinists want the company to restore the traditional pension plan they lost a decade ago, which remains a major source of anger among the union’s rank and file.

Boeing has said it’s unwilling to restore the defined benefit pension plan that it froze in 2014, though it has offered to increase the company’s contributions to union members’ 401(k) retirement plans.

Still, union leaders are recommending that members approve the latest proposal.

“In every negotiation and strike, there is a point where we have extracted everything that we can in bargaining and by withholding our labor. We are at that point now and risk a regressive or lesser offer in the future,” the union's leaders said in their statement.

The union rejected Boeing’s previous proposal last week, with 64% of members who participated voting against it. The vote was held the same day that the company announced a massive $6 billion-dollar loss in the third quarter of the year.

In a message to employees on Friday, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg encouraged all union members to vote on the proposal.

"It’s time we all come back together and focus on rebuilding the business and delivering the world’s best airplanes," Ortberg wrote. "There are a lot of people depending on us."