Boeing staff from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Staff District 751 gather on a picket line near the doorway to a Boeing production facility on the day of a vote on a recent contract proposal during an ongoing strike in Renton, Washington, U.S. October 23, 2024.
David Ryder | Reuters
Boeing and its machinists’ union have agreed on a recent negotiated offer to boost employee pay and potentially end a crippling strike that began seven weeks ago with a vote on the brand new proposal set for Monday.
The union urged staff to approve the contract. Getting staff back into factories is urgent for Boeing because it faces mounting losses.
“In every negotiation and strike, there may be a degree where we have now extracted every thing that we will in bargaining and by withholding our labor,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Staff District 751 said Thursday. “We’re at that time now and risk a regressive or lesser offer in the longer term.”
The brand new proposal includes 38% general wage increases over 4 years, up from a previous offer for 35%, bringing the compounding pay increases to shut to 44%, the union said Thursday. It also gives staff the choice of a $12,000 one-time ratification bonus or to decide on a previous offer for a $7,000 ratification bonus and a $5,000 401(k) contribution.
The union said that asking its members to remain on strike longer “would not be right as we have now achieved a lot success.”
Boeing’s greater than 32,000 machinists, mostly based within the Seattle area, walked off the job on Sept. 13 after turning down a tentative agreement. They rejected one other proposal earlier this month, extending the strike.
Boeing said Thursday that at the tip of the contract, machinist pay will average $119,309.
“We encourage all of our employees to learn more in regards to the improved offer and vote on Monday, Nov. 4,” Boeing said in an announcement.
The Biden administration has gotten involved in negotiations through the strike, which has halted most aircraft production at Boeing, a top U.S. exporter. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su met with the corporate and the union this week.
The Boeing strike took a bite out of U.S. employment numbers in October, in response to Friday’s U.S. jobs report, the last before the Nov. 5 presidential election.
President Joe Biden congratulated the union and Boeing for the brand new contract proposal.
“Machinists at Boeing have sacrificed through the years and deserve a powerful contract,” he said in an announcement on Friday, shortly after the roles report was released.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said on his first earnings call last week since taking the highest job in August that the corporate has been “feverishly working to search out an answer that works for the corporate and meets our employees’ needs.” Hours later, the employees rejected a negotiated proposal.
Boeing machinists have repeatedly pushed for higher compensation as the associated fee of living within the Seattle area — where technology giants like Microsoft and Amazon have ramped up staffing — has surged lately.
Under the brand new contract proposal, as in previous iterations, Boeing vowed to construct whatever its next airplane shall be within the Puget Sound area. One sore spot amongst staff is that Boeing moved 787 Dreamliner production to a non-union factory in South Carolina.
The strike has further pushed back Boeing leaders’ plans to stabilize the aerospace behemoth because it reels from the impact of production flaws and the fallout from questions of safety, most recently a door plug that blew out midair from a Boeing 737 Max 9 at the beginning of the 12 months.
Boeing lost greater than $6 billion within the last quarter and warned it might proceed to burn money through 2025.
