EVERETT, OCT. 24: Boeing Machinists rejected the company’s latest offer with 64% of voters against, the union announced Wednesday night.

The strike that has reached nearly five weeks will continue until a new offer is negotiated between the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and Boeing leadership.

Jon Holden, President of IAM District 751 and Brandon Bryant, President of IAM District W24 released a joint statement saying, “Ten years of holding workers back unfortunately cannot be undone quickly or easily, but we will continue to negotiate in good faith until we have made gains that workers feel adequately make up for what the company took from them in the past.”

Boeing has not released a statement as of early Oct. 24 regarding the outcome of the vote.

We will continue to follow this story.

EVERETT, OCT. 23: In the cold, foggy October morning, Boeing Machinist union workers gathered at the Angel of the Winds Arena to cast their vote on the latest contract from the company. Many were excited to see their coworkers, embracing and sharing a few laughs.

But the seriousness of the day loomed as 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) voted on a contract deal that could end the strike that has lasted for five weeks.

An employee with the Workers Vanguard handing out papers in front of the voting door Oct. 23.

Before the vote this morning Boeing released an earnings report showing the company had lost $6.1 billion over the most recent quarter, primarily from the work halted due to the IAM strike.

The new contract deal proposed over the weekend offers a 35% raise over the four-year duration of the contract. During initial talks union leadership demanded a 40% pay increase.

The proposal also increases Boeing contribution to a 401 (k) plan but doesn’t reinstate the pension many workers are holding out for. The primary ratification bonus was increased from $3,000 to $7,000 as well.

Many of the union workers from the Everett Boeing facility, said that they would be rejecting the offer they told the Everett Post. Some of the workers are holding out for pension to be reinstated, something that was taken away in contract negotiations in 2014.

Union worker Austin Meier criticized the 35% offer, which results in a compounded raise of approximately 39.8% over four years. In the first year, the offer presents a 12% increase. The next two years have 8% boost and then ending at a 7% boost increase at year four.

Boeing Machinist union worker Austin Meier (Left) with union worker Ben Rice (Right), Oct.23 outside of the Angel of the Winds Arena.

“It’s not what we want. They are presenting it as if it’s what we want at the end of the four years. We need that [wage increase] now… Boeing will spend billions to save millions. We don’t know what inflation is going to do, that’s what sucks about the last contract of 10 years, we couldn’t keep up with inflation,” Meier said.

Joseph Hollingsworth, team lead at the Everett facility, has worked at Boeing for 12 1/2 years. He said that people shouldn’t have to work overtime to make a living. In a contract that he would approve, the pension would need to be reinstated, and a 40% gross wage increase on a 40-hour week, not including overtime.

Others said that they are rejecting the offer to tackle the “smaller fights” of paid time off and better medical benefits.

Ben Rice, who has been with Boeing for 10 years, is also voting no because of the “mandatory overtime” that impacts the time he can spend with his family.

“No one should be forced to be there if they don’t want to… I feel like the union and Boeing hasn’t touched base on this enough,” Rice said.

He said that fear of saying no to overtime impacts the overall livelihood of workers, whether they need the money or are worried about being fired if they refuse.

In coverage from The Seattle Times, they found that union workers were split on the offer. One of the union workers interviewed said that the strike has gone on long enough that “some people are desperate” and will say yes to start receiving income again.

If the current contract is rejected, Boeing production will continue to slow, resulting in more layoffs. It will also impact businesses in the Puget Sound area this holiday season, as fewer Boeing workers spend their money in the area economy and elsewhere. 

The results will be released around 9 p.m. tonight, Oct. 23.

Edited at 1:37 p.m. to include the compounded percentage amount.

2 comments
  1. Greg
    Greg
    October 25, 2024 at 12:41 pm

    Hopefully Boeing doesn’t give in to the IAM union demands. The IAM union is asking for way too much! Maybe future raises should be based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W), which is more than fair! They would get the same CPI annual raise as SSN and other government agencies. If the IAM union doesn’t agree, maybe Boeing should move more of their production to South Carolina (non union) or even Mexico.

    Reply
  2. Ben Rice
    Ben Rice
    October 23, 2024 at 11:17 pm

    I want to thank you for giving my fellow union brothers and I our voice to be heard. We are like family at Boeing and stand together and discuss all things together as a family would do to ensure that all of us are getting what we need before 1 of us will sway our votes. I find it impossible to believe that the new Boeing CEO wants to reset our relationship without resetting our benefits back to what they once were when Boeing was great and had promise for our children’s future with a reliable pension, free if not affordable health care and a wage that you could raise a family on in a h*me you could afford to call your own. That simply isn’t the case with what they continue to offer as the true costs of living have gone far beyond what Boeing feels is fair for those that currently build the product they are selling. Meanwhile they bring in a new CEO that if he truly believes that 75k a year with a 2k annual bonus suffices for his workers perhaps that’s the pay he himself should accept to see the struggle we all face in reality instead of rolling into town to purchase a 4 million dollar h*me that us actual workers could never even afford by the time we retire with the low pay they’ve continued to push at us over the years. I am still in awe personally h*w they haven’t touched more on the mandatory overtime as well, why should I be forced to work h*urs I didn’t sign up for due to management’s poor scheduling. They build overtime into the schedule as I have been well aware of when I used to be a mechanic and when I started working for Boeing I had a 7 day bar line and then when they upped the the rate instead of hiring someone to increase to a 4 day rate, thus taking 3 whole days from the build, I was told I needed to stay late for 10-12 h*ur days and work weekends because they wanted to increase rate with no other plan than to keep me there longer without regard to my family life. There is so much Boeing needs to work on to become the great company it once was, but it needs to start with the CEO wh* has been completely absent from talks with the union show some form of empathy for those that obviously are upset with what we have suffered the years. We enjoy our jobs, just want our fair share of the pie and want to be there on our terms. I’ve said it too many times, you’ll get more work out of someone wh* volunteers for overtime, than someone wh* is forced to be there. But sadly Boeing management only sees it as a numbers game and they count overtime h*urs worked against people and force those that have fewer overtime h*urs to be there over those that volunteer and would’ve been happy to come in already thus creating a poor unhappy work environment for all employees. There is too much disconnect and tension always between management and union and sadly all Boeing’s HR department knows from my experience is h*w to protect managers and attack the union members.

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