SEATTLE, Wash., and PORTLAND, Ore.—Some 33,000 Boeing Machinists, all in the Puget Sound area except for 1,200 in Portland, Ore., will vote on the aerospace company’s third contract offer on November 4.
And this time, Machinists District 751 President Jon Holden In Seattle and District W2 President Brandon Bryant in Portland recommend they accept the pact. The two, and their bargainers, took no position on Boeing’s prior offer, which almost two-thirds of the voting Machinists rejected.
If the Machinists approve the latest tentative agreement, the strike, now in its seventh week, will end upon ratification by one-half plus one of the voting members. Machinists would then start returning to work on the first shift on November 6 and running through November 12. The old pact expired on September 13.
Whether the workers will agree remains to be seen. 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.
This proposal includes a benefit bump for workers the old plan covers, but not revival for the rest. It also 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.
“In every negotiation and strike, there is a point where we have extracted everything that we can in bargaining and by withholding our labor,” the union leaders said late in the evening of Halloween. “We are at that point now and risk a regressive or lesser offer in the future.”
This proposed pact continues a pattern of industrial unions finding pressure points in production and transportation and leveraging them to get the best deals for workers in years.
Predecessor successes include a big wage hike and contract extension for the International Longshoremen’s Association this year in their battle with East and Gulf Coast port owners, and the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s contract with West Coast port owners, the Teamsters with UPS and the United Auto Workers with the Detroit automakers, all during last year.
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.
CONTRIBUTOR
Comments