Boeing factory strike ends as workers vote to accept contract
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[November 05, 2024] By
DAVID KOENIG, LINDSEY WASSON and HANNAH SCHOENBAUM
SEATTLE (AP) — Factory workers at Boeing voted to accept a contract
offer and end their strike after more than seven weeks, clearing the way
for the aerospace giant to resume production of its bestselling airliner
and generate much-needed cash.
Leaders of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace
Workers district in Seattle said 59% of members who cast ballots agreed
to approve the company’s fourth formal offer and the third put to a
vote. The deal includes a 38% wage increase over four years, and
ratification and productivity bonuses.
However, Boeing refused to meet strikers’ demand to restore a company
pension plan that was frozen nearly a decade ago.
The contract’s ratification on the eve of Election Day cleared the way
for a major U.S. manufacturer and government contractor to restart
Pacific Northwest assembly lines that the walkout idled for 53 days.
Bank of America analysts estimated last month that Boeing was losing
about $50 million a day during the now-ended strike, which did not
affect a nonunion plant in South Carolina where the company makes 787s.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a message to employees that he was
pleased to have reached an agreement.
“While the past few months have been difficult for all of us, we are all
part of the same team,” Ortberg said. “We will only move forward by
listening and working together. There is much work ahead to return to
the excellence that made Boeing an iconic company.”
According to the union, the 33,000 workers it represents can return to
work as soon as Wednesday or as late as Nov. 12. Ortberg has said it
might take “a couple of weeks” to resume production in part because some
workers might need retraining.
The average annual pay of Boeing machinists is currently $75,608 and
eventually will rise to $119,309 under the new contract, according to
the company. The union said the compounded value of the promised pay
raise would amount to an increase of more than 43% over the life of the
agreement.
“It’s time for us to come together. This is a victory,” IAM District 751
President Jon Holden told members while announcing the tally late
Monday. “You stood strong and you stood tall and you won.”
Reactions were mixed even among union members who voted to accept the
contract.
Although she voted “yes,” Seattle-based calibration specialist Eep
Bolaño said the outcome was “most certainly not a victory.” Bolaño said
she and her fellow workers made a wise but infuriating choice to accept
the offer.
“We were threatened by a company that was crippled, dying, bleeding on
the ground, and us as one of the biggest unions in the country couldn't
even extract two-thirds of our demands from them. This is humiliating,"
she said.
For other workers like William Gardiner, a lab lead in calibration
services, the revised offer was a cause for celebration.
“I'm extremely pumped over this vote,” said Gardiner, who has worked for
Boeing for 13 years. “We didn't fix everything — that's OK. Overall,
it's a very positive contract.”
Union leaders had endorsed the latest proposal, saying they thought they
had gotten all they could though negotiations and the strike. Along with
the wage increase, the new contract gives each worker a $12,000
ratification bonus and retains a performance bonus the company wanted to
eliminate.
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IAM District 751 president Jon Holden greets union members after
announcing they voted to accept a new contract offer from Boeing,
Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, at their union hall in Seattle. (AP
Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
“It is time for our members to lock
in these gains and confidently declare victory,” the local union
district said before the vote. “We believe asking members to stay on
strike longer wouldn’t be right as we have achieved so much
success.”
President Joe Biden congratulated the machinists and Boeing for
coming to an agreement that he said supports fairness in the
workplace and improves workers’ ability to retire with dignity. The
contract, he said, is important for Boeing’s future as “a critical
part of America’s aerospace sector.”
Biden's acting labor secretary, Julie Su, intervened in the
negotiations several times, including when Boeing made its latest
offer last week.
A continuing strike would have plunged Boeing into further financial
peril and uncertainty. Last month, Ortberg announced plans to lay
off about 17,000 people and a stock sale to prevent the company’s
credit rating from being cut to junk status.
The strike began Sept. 13 with an overwhelming 94.6% rejection of
the company's offer to raise pay by 25% over four years — far less
than the union’s original demand for 40% wage increases over three
years.
Machinists voted down another offer — 35% raises over four years,
and still no revival of pensions — on Oct. 23, the same day that
Boeing reported a third-quarter loss of more than $6 billion.
The contract rejections reflected bitterness that built up after
union concessions and small pay increases over the past decade.
The labor standoff — the first strike by Boeing machinists since an
eight-week walkout in 2008 — was the latest setback in a volatile
year for the aerospace giant. The 2008 strike lasted eight weeks and
cost the company about $100 million daily in deferred revenue. A
1995 strike lasted 10 weeks.
Boeing came under several federal investigations this year after a
door plug blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight
in January. Federal regulators put limits on Boeing airplane
production that they said would last until they felt confident about
manufacturing safety at the company.
The door-plug incident renewed concerns about the safety of the 737
Max. Two of the planes had crashed less than five months apart in
2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. The CEO at the time, whose
efforts to fix the company failed, announced in March that he would
step down. In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to
commit fraud for deceiving regulators who approved the 737 Max.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Monday's vote puts Boeing’s future
back on more solid footing.
“Washington is home to the world’s most skilled aerospace workers,
and they understandably took a stand for the respect and
compensation they deserve,” Inslee said in a statement
congratulating the workers.
___
Koenig reported from Dallas and Schoenbaum from Salt Lake City.
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