SEATTLE — Union workers at the Boeing factory were voting Monday whether to accept a contract offer or extend their strike, which has lasted more than seven weeks and halted production of most of Boeing’s passenger planes.
A vote to ratify the contract on the eve of Election Day would clear the way for a major U.S. manufacturer and government contractor to resume aircraft production. If members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers vote a third time to reject Boeing’s offer, it would plunge the aerospace giant into new financial uncertainty and peril.
In its latest contract proposal, Boeing offers salary increases of 38% over four years, as well as ratification and productivity bonuses. IAM District 751, which represents Boeing workers in the Pacific Northwest, approved the proposal, which is slightly more generous than the one the machinists rejected nearly two weeks ago.
Union officials said they got everything they could through negotiations and the strike, and that if the current proposal is rejected, future offers from Boeing could be worse. They hope to announce the result of the vote Monday evening.
Boeing says the average annual salary for machinists is $75,608 and would increase to $119,309 in four years under the current offer.
Pensions were a key issue for workers who rejected the company’s previous offers in September and October. In its new offer, Boeing did not respond to their request to restore a pension plan frozen nearly a decade ago.
If the machinists ratify the contract currently on the table, they will return to work by November 12, according to the union.
Workers received their final paychecks in mid-September, days after the strike began, and are likely facing more pressure on their personal financial well-being.
Bernadeth Jimenez, who has worked in quality assurance at Boeing’s Everett, Washington, plant since 2022, said she voted “yes” on Monday after voting against previous offers from the business. She was pleased with the proposed pay increases and said she wasn’t expecting a pension anyway — she’s investing in her 401(k) plan.
“This (offer) is good and I really want to go back to work,” she said. “This time we are ready.”
Theresa Pound is not ready. The 16-year company veteran said she voted “no,” just as she did for the two previous offers up for a vote.
“Adding 3% (to the previous offer) doesn’t change anything for my future. It still doesn’t guarantee that when I retire I will be able to live comfortably, and that’s the main thing,” she said. “Instant gratification isn’t going to save me.”
Jimenez and Pound both have husbands who also work at Boeing, and both couples anticipated the strike and worked overtime before it started. However, money is tight.
“We’re doing our best,” Pound said. “We’re going to run out of money soon, but that’s not going to be a stopping point for me to say, ‘Well, I’m out of money.’ I have to go back. I’ll find other ways to make this work.
The strike has started On September 13, with an overwhelming 94.6% rejection of Boeing’s offer to raise wages by 25% over four years – far less than the union’s initial demand for a 40% wage increase over three years.
Machinists rejected another offer – a 35% increase over four years, and still no pension boost – on October 23, the same day Boeing reported a third quarter. loss of more than 6 billion dollars. However, the offer received 36% support, compared to 5% for the mid-September proposal, leading Boeing executives to believe they were close to a deal.
The contract rejections reflect the bitterness that has built up after union concessions and small pay increases over the past decade.
The new proposal made by Boeing last week included slightly larger pay increases, as well as a contract ratification bonus of $12,000, up from $7,000 in the previous offer, and larger contributions from the company to employee 401(k) retirement accounts.
Boeing also promises to build its next jetliner in the Seattle area. Union officials fear the company will withdraw its commitment if workers reject the new offer.
The strike attracted the attention of the Biden administration. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su has intervened several times in the negotiations, including last week.
THE work deadlock — the first strike by Boeing machinists since an eight-week strike in 2008 — is the latest setback in a volatile year for the company.
Boeing has been subject to several federal investigations after a door stopper blew up a 737 Max plane on an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Federal regulators placed limits on the production of Boeing planes that they said would last until they gained confidence in them. manufacturing safety to the company.
The door jam incident has renewed concerns about the safety of the 737 Max. Two of the planes crashed within five months of each other in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. The CEO whose efforts to fix the company failed announced in March that he would withdraw. In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for misleading regulators who approved the 737 Max.
As the strike continued, new Kelly Ortberg, CEO announcement around 17,000 layoffs and a sale of shares to prevent the company’s credit rating from becoming junk. S&P and Fitch Ratings said last week that the $24.3 billion in stocks and other securities would cover upcoming debt payments and reduce the risk of credit downgrades.
The strike has created a cash flow crisis by depriving Boeing of the money it gets from delivering new planes to airlines. The walkout at Seattle-area factories halted production of the 737MaxBoeing’s best-selling aircraft, and the 777 jet, or “triple-seven”, and the cargo version of its 767 aircraft.
Ortberg admitted that confidence in Boeing has declined, that the company is too leveraged and that “serious deficiencies in our performance” have disappointed many airline customers. But, he says, the company’s strengths include an aircraft order backlog valued at half a trillion dollars.
Koenig reported from Dallas.
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