Thousands of Boeing aircraft mechanics have rejected contract offers for the second time in less than two months. This means the strike that has halted aircraft production at the company’s factories around the Puget Sound region for nearly six weeks will continue.
When votes were counted Wednesday night, 64% of members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers opposed the proposal. The contract included wage increases that the union argued were in line with what workers wanted, but it did not include pension benefits that the machinists wanted restored.
IAM District 751 President John Holden said shortly before the voting results were announced, “While this agreement has achieved significant results in many of the areas that our members have said are important, it does not go far enough to meet their needs.” I haven’t gotten it,” he said. At Union Hall in Seattle. Union members present at the scene cheered at the result.
IAM District 751 President John Holden spoke to union members and the media before the striking machinists announced that they had rejected the proposed contract from Boeing on October 23, 2024. (Bill Lucia/Washington State Standards)
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers represents about 33,000 striking Boeing workers in Washington, Oregon and California. Workers took to the picket line after work on Sept. 13, rejecting a proposal negotiated by union leaders and the company last month. The previous contract proposal was rejected by 94.6% of union members eligible to vote.
Mechanical experts rejected the latest proposal on the same day the company released results showing a quarterly loss of $6.17 billion.
Boeing reports $6 billion quarterly loss as union contract vote progresses
Boeing said it had no comment on the voting results. Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg said earlier in the day that the strike is “first and foremost on everyone’s mind today” following the poor financial report.
“We remain committed to getting our team back and improving our relationships so that we are not so disconnected in the future,” he said.
“They’re not budging on that.”
The package workers rejected includes a 35% general wage increase over four years, with a 12% increase in the first year. It also called for the reinstatement of an incentive pay program that guarantees a minimum annual payout of 4%, and for workers to receive a one-time contract recognition bonus of $7,000.
Union officials said wage increases had been compounded over the life of the contract and were in line with the 40% hike workers had been seeking.
The company also proposed putting 100% of the first 8% of an employee’s salary into a 401(k) retirement account and automatically paying a 4% company contribution. And the proposed contract included a one-time $5,000 contribution to the worker’s 401(k) account.
But mechanics are calling for the return of defined benefit pension plans.
Jim Toole, a Boeing inspector for 35 years, said Wednesday outside Everett’s Angel of the Winds Arena, where hundreds of mechanics were voting on the contract.
“There were a lot of people who came to Boeing who took pay cuts from other jobs just because they were one of the last companies with pensions,” Toole said. “And with pensions taken away, people who wanted a secure job and a pension no longer have it.”
Matt Farnham pickets outside Angel of the Winds Arena as striking Boeing employees pass for a contract vote on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024 in Everett, Washington. center). (Ryan Berry, Washington State Standards)
Boeing has given no indication that it intends to reinstate the pension plan during negotiations.
Holden also admitted that. “They remained steadfast on that point the entire time,” he said. “It remains a hot issue and we have to solve it.”
“If they don’t want to give it, we have to get something to replace it, and we’re not that far along, right?” he said. And that affects wages too. It comes down to the 401(k) plan. He also noted that “other defined benefit plan options” may be considered.
Boeing is in a difficult position. Problems with the flight control system on the company’s 737 Max planes led to crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people, exposed flaws in the company’s safety culture and resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. And in January, Alaska Airlines Flight 737-9 was forced to make an emergency landing after a door plug blew off the plane.
The company has racked up debt ($57.7 billion as of Sept. 30) and earlier this month announced plans to cut about 17,000 employees across the company as part of cost containment efforts. Recent regulatory filings also indicated that the company may seek to raise up to $25 billion in equity or debt.
In early October, S&P Global estimated that the shutdown was costing the company more than $1 billion a month, even after taking into account cost-cutting measures taken in response.
Asked if there was any concern that the longer the strike lasted Boeing would consider manufacturing options outside the Northwest, Holden said, “That’s a concern that I’ve always had and have been for a long time. That’s what I was holding.”
“We know that there is no work that can match the caliber of our members. The infrastructure that we have here has developed over 100 years,” he added. “But I’m going to focus on getting the offers that our members deserve. That’s what I’m going to do.”
on the picket line
About a dozen workers lined up on a picket line at the gate outside Boeing’s Renton factory on Logan Avenue North around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, a few hours after Holden announced the results. It was. The company’s huge, box-shaped building was lit up and sat heavily in the background.
Several passing cars honked their horns in support, and the workers returned screaming. Among them was sealer Kenneth Orcine, who has been with the company for about two years.
Left to right: Workers outside the entrance to the Boeing factory in Renton on the night of Oct. 23, 2024, after the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union rejected a proposed contract. One of the Boeing factory buildings in Renton. It is illuminated at night. Vance Meyering, who has worked as a fuel cell integrated sealer for about 10 years, stands on the picket line at the entrance to Boeing’s Renton facility on October 23, 2024. (Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard)
Orcine said she was still feeling buoyant about the strike and had been saving money in anticipation of it happening. He said he was concerned about securing long-term benefits as a junior employee who could potentially stay with the company for another 20 or 25 years.
“Actually, that’s a good thing, because we wanted more,” he said when asked for his reaction to the contract vote being defeated. “We want a pension. We want 40%, but they only gave us 35%.”
“That’s not true,” he said.
Freelance journalist Ryan Berry contributed to this story with reporting from Everett. Lucia reported from Seattle and Renton.
