Boeing Workers Vote Down Deal, Continue Strike

IAM members voted by 64% to reject the contract.

by Paul Blest, More Perfect Union

More than a month after 33,000 Boeing machinists in Washington went on strike, they just voted to stay on the picket line.

After Boeing submitted a new offer to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) leadership, workers at the beleaguered aerospace and defense giant voted by 64 percent Wednesday to reject the new deal, the union said. 

IAM District 751 President Jon Holden said in a message to members after the vote that although the bargaining committee “made tremendous gains in this agreement in many of the areas our members said were important to them…we have not achieved enough to meet our members’ demands today. We remain on strike.”

Boeing workers went on strike on September 13 after overwhelmingly rejecting the company’s “last, best, and final offer.” More than 96 percent of IAM workers voted to strike, a walkout that has continued for nearly six weeks. 

Workers are on strike during the most tumultuous time in Boeing’s history, as multiple catastrophic plane crashes and other incidents involving the 737 MAX put a spotlight on long-simmering safety concerns at the company — a problem, workers have said, has been exacerbated by executives slashing quality control to cut costs and rushing production to improve the company’s economic standing. 

"When you talk to people on the floor, we want to do a better job,” one IAM worker told More Perfect Union last month. “We want the environment that helps us make that safe, quality work, and we expect Boeing to provide it.”

The newest offer from Boeing included 35 percent raises over the next four years, as well as a $7,000 ratification bonus. But many workers have said that a big sticking point is bringing back pensions, which Boeing hasn’t offered to anyone hired since a 2014 contract ratification. Instead of pensions, the company had offered improvements to those employees’ 401(k) plans. 

Holden nodded to those concerns in his message to members. "This contract struggle began over ten years ago when the company overreached and created a wound that may never heal for many members,” he said. “I don’t have to tell you all how challenging it has been for our membership through the pandemic, the crashes, massive inflation, and the need to address the losses stemming from the 2014 contract.”

Workers have pointed to big executive payouts at Boeing as proof the company can afford it; former CEO David Calhoun received a golden parachute worth up to $45 million when he retired earlier this year. 

Boeing’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, said in a message to employees as they voted on Wednesday that he was “very hopeful that the package we put forward will allow our employees to come back to work so we can immediately focus on restoring the company. Once we get back, we have the task of restarting the factories and the supply chain.”

The effects of the strike have rippled through the rest of the company over the past month. Boeing sidelined what was once most of the expensive lobbying operations in D.C. as production slowed to a halt, and last week announced a plan to borrow $10 billion from a group of banks. On Wednesday, the company reported a loss of more than $6 billion in just the third quarter. 

Despite the vote to continue the strike, Holden expressed optimism about the union’s path forward. “We have prepared for years to bring this membership back to a position of power and leverage, and we are there tonight,” he said. 

“This membership will continue to stand on the line, picketing for the contract they deserve,” he said. “There is much more to do, and we will work to get back to the bargaining table.”

Boeing declined to comment.