If the workers agree, it would end a seven-week strike that exposed its bosses’ initial unwillingness to reward the Machinists for their hard and devoted work for a decade or more. It again proves the importance of finding “pressure points” against management which bosses cannot counter.
Within just the past year plus, other industrial unions have done the same thing and won.
The International Longshoremen’s Association got a big wage hike and three-month contract extension this year in their battle with East and Gulf Coast port owners. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s won a new contract with West Coast port owners. The Teamsters beat UPS by threatening to walk out and setting a hard deadline for an agreement. And the United Auto Workers Stand Up rolling strikes against Detroit automakers took back almost two decades of losses to bosses.
“In every negotiation and a strike, there is a point where we have extracted everything that we can in bargaining and by withholding our labor,” Machinists District 751 President Jon Holden In Seattle and District W2 President Brandon Bryant in Portland said late in the evening of Halloween.
“We are at that point now and risk a regressive or lesser offer in the future,” the two said of the tentative agreement.
“Your union is endorsing and recommending the latest IAM/Boeing contract proposal. It is time for our members to lock in these gains and confidently declare victory. We believe asking members to stay on strike longer wouldn’t be right as we have achieved so much success,” District 751 tweeted.
If the Machinists approve the latest tentative agreement in the day-long balloting, they will start returning to work on the first shift on November 6 and the Seattle Boeing complex and at the Portland plant. Both sites would be fully staffed by November 12. The old pact expired on September 13.
IAM members rejected Boeing’s prior offer, in mid-October, since it did not revive the old-time defined-benefit pension plan. Boeing axed that more than a decade ago in a pact it was able, under ratification rules, to impose on the unionists.
That denial set off the Twitter verse before the Machinists rejected Boeing’s prior offer by about a two-to-one ratio. Tweeted reaction to this tentative agreement a mixture of approval and resigned approval. There were still one or two holdouts among the tweeters. Approval needs a one-half-plus-one majority of all voting members.
“It is what it is”
One tweeter identified as @HendovRuaGOAT wrote “I agree with the local. Recommend people vote yes. I think it’s really shit the company refuses to do more for the new guys, but it is what it is. Boeing obviously won’t budge on that.”
“Four years from now, we get good leadership to continue restoring our benefits. This is a war, and we won this battle. We can win the next one also. Let’s go fix these airplanes, remember, the managers have been messing with them.” Mark Kinney tweeted.
“Wow! Very nice! Let’s hope everything goes well with the vote and folks can start to report to work again next week. I’m very cautiously optimistic that we’ll all be working together again soon!! This good news made my night,” tweeted Mike Fly.
“We have come far since our first offer. I’m proud of the stand we took, and I think the strike was well worth it. I don’t trust Boeing, I’m afraid they will drag this out even longer and mess up our backlog. I want to get things going again and save Boeing from themselves!” tweeted a Machinist named Lockwood, with the handle Bry_Lock.
One tweeter said Wednesday would be a celebration for him if IAM won the contract and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump won the U.S. election the day after the Machinists vote. That tweeter did not mention Trump’s anti-union actions, or IAM’s endorsement of the convicted felon’s foe, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
The tentative agreement includes a benefit bump for workers the old plan covers, but not revival for the rest. It combines a $7,000 signing bonus and a $5,000 bump in 401(k) contributions into one $12,000 lump sum, which workers can take in their first paycheck, add to their 401(k), or a combo of both.
Holden and Bryant once again credited Biden Administration Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su with bringing the two sides together in shuttle diplomacy between the unions and bosses in Seattle. Su engaged in similar shuttle diplomacy for the two longshore workers’ pacts.
Bryant and Holden said the new proposed pact features a “38% general wage increase over four years: 13%, 9%, 9%, 7%, which compounds to 43.65% over the life of the agreement.”
That’s slightly more than the 35% hike over four years in the rejected pact in mid-October. The workers originally demanded 40% over three years, while Boeing offered 25% over four.
Bryant and Holden called the wage hike and the lump sum bonus “two significant changes” from what Boeing previously proposed, adding those were among the positive impacts of the strike.
“This isn’t just our fight. This is every worker’s fight, and every community those workers call home will benefit in the end. All workers and their families deserve dignity and respect for what they do to make the places we live better for everyone. Thank you for standing with us in solidarity and for taking on this fight!” Bryant and Holden said.
Other wins from the rejected contract, including a reduction in the worker’s share of health insurance premiums in the pact’s first year, were preserved.
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