On Thursday, September 12, over 33,000 Boeing employees, represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 751, voted resoundingly to reject a tentative agreement (TA) and strike for a new contract. At the union’s hall in South Seattle late Thursday night, a jubilant crowd of machinists roared in approval as Jon Holden, president of IAM 751, announced that 94.6% of members voted to reject Boeing’s final contract offer and that 96% had voted to strike. The strike, which was filed with the National Labor Relations Board as an Unfair Labor Practices strike, began at 12:01 a.m. Friday morning, capping off months of negotiations during which Boeing management failed to resolve fundamental differences with workers on issues including wage increases, job security, and retirement benefits. Holden further alleged that Boeing acted unlawfully in the leadup to the strike, claiming that “there were many violations of the law while on the shop floor, [including] discriminatory conduct, coercive questioning, unlawful surveillance, and unlawful promises of benefits.”
Demands for fair treatment
The overwhelming vote to reject the TA and affirm a strike reflects the significant discontent that has been festering among Boeing workers in the past decade. Since the union’s last strike in 2008, wages for machinists have failed to keep pace with rampant inflation and the rising cost of living in the Puget Sound area. Grade 5 machinists under the current contract earn a minimum of $20 an hour, up from $16 an hour in 2008 – a 25% increase – while inflation has increased by 44% in the same time period. Meanwhile, Boeing shareholders voted for increasing the compensation of Dave Calhoun, Boeing’s former CEO, from $22.6 million in 2022 to nearly $33 million in 2023, an increase of roughly 45%.
The juxtaposition of modest wage increases for workers and exorbitant raises for executives is a central issue of contention for many union members. Kelvin, a Boeing lab employee based in Seattle, said, “We’re not asking for too much when the CEOs are getting more than what we have. We build the planes and they just sit in their offices… It’s all about getting what’s a fair share. To live in Renton, or Seattle, it costs a lot of money.”
Motivated by this disparity, IAM 751 demanded a 40% average wage increase across all grades, with larger increases for lower grades. The union also sought assurances of job security. In March of 2021, Boeing moved production of its 787 Dreamliner from a union plant in Everett, Washington, to a non-union plant in South Carolina. Workers want a guarantee that the next Boeing commercial airline program will be built in unionized plants in the Pacific Northwest to ensure that Boeing remains a large employer in the region. Additionally, the union requested a return to the previous pension plan, which was replaced with a 401(k) matching scheme in contract extensions in 2011 and 2013. During a press conference following the vote, Holden noted that the loss of the pension plan was “one of the toughest issues we faced out of the last extension” and that many members still felt the impact, emphasizing its importance in the current negotiations.
An insufficient tentative agreement
On Sunday, September 8, mere days before the old contract was set to expire, IAM 751’s bargaining team announced that they had reached a TA with Boeing, though it fell short of key union demands. The TA offered an average wage increase of only 25% and did not reinstate the pension plan. Furthermore, it failed to assuage worker concerns regarding job security, as it only guaranteed that the next airline program would be built in the region if the program were launched during the lifetime of the contract. However, corporate leadership has repeatedly stated that Boeing will not introduce the next program until the 2030s, well after the expiry of the TA.
The chasm between the TA and the union’s initial bargaining demands proved too significant for workers, prompting frustration and disappointment from machinists. In response, Holden wrote a letter prior to the vote in which he emphasized that the TA was the best possible deal short of striking and stressed that the decision was ultimately in the hands of the members, “right where it is supposed to be,” and that the union would go with whatever members decided. Some employees, while acknowledging the shortcomings of the TA, understood why union leadership recommended its ratification.
George Rockey, who works in Wing Systems and Installations for the 737 in Renton, felt that the TA was “the best deal they could get with Boeing at the time without striking.” He noted that while the TA contained “surprisingly significant things,” it was insufficient, “especially with wage increases.”
Corporate miscalculations
The strike comes at a time of vulnerability for Boeing. A string of corporate missteps over the past few years, including cost-cutting measures affecting engineering and testing, led to two groundings of the 737 Max in 2019 and 2024 – one due to fatal crashes and the other due to a door plug failure. These incidents, which affected the majority of Boeing’s plane orders, have had severe financial repercussions for the company, contributing to its nearly $60 billion debt.
Perhaps due to the company’s current precarious position and the estimated $500 million per week that the strike could cost, Boeing’s corporate leadership has adopted conciliatory language towards the union following the vote. On the night of the strike announcement, the company said in a statement that “The message was clear that the tentative agreement… was not acceptable to members” and that it wanted to reset relations with the workers and the union and resume bargaining. The following morning, Brian West, Boeing’s CFO, said at a conference that the TA “didn’t meet the mark.”
A breakdown in negotiations and an attempt to circumvent the union
Despite Boeing’s remarks in the immediate aftermath of the strike announcement, mediation between Boeing and IAM 751 broke down on Wednesday, September 18, less than one week after the beginning of the strike. On Monday, September 23rd, rather than resuming bargaining with IAM 751, Boeing went to the media with what they called an “improved best and final offer.” Highlights from the offer include a 30% general wage increase, up from 25% in the TA, spread over four years. Boeing also doubled the ratification bonus for machinists to $6,000 from $3,000 in the TA. Boeing gave members a deadline of 11:59 p.m. on Friday, September 27, to ratify the new offer. In a statement released on the evening of September 23, the union’s negotiating committee accused Boeing of bypassing standard negotiating channels by attempting to deal directly with machinists through the media, despite the negotiating committee’s expressed willingness to continue with mediation. The union claimed that Boeing continued to resist overtures made by the negotiating committee to resume bargaining even after the release of the September 23 offer. In a statement released on September 24, the union said that machinists made “overwhelmingly clear” in internal surveys that the updated offer was not satisfactory. The union also said that Boeing’s September 27 deadline did not give machinists sufficient time to consider the offer. In response, Boeing removed the deadline without setting a new one. The union, however, has maintained that they will not vote on the new agreement until Boeing is willing to resume negotiations.
A resurgent labor movement
The machinists’ decisive action to reject the TA is the latest chapter in the broader resurgence of the American labor movement. Since 2023, labor unions in the U.S. have achieved multiple historic victories. During a press conference on Thursday night, Holden mentioned how IAM 751 took inspiration from recent organized labor victories.
“There were a lot of awesome wins in the labor movement, and I think that momentum is something that helped us, brought confidence to our members, and so we certainly looked upon that as something to aspire to achieve as well, so we’re hoping to continue the labor movement’s success with our action here,” said Holden.
Union members echoed Holden’s sentiment, expressing that morale and solidarity were at all time highs. Said Rockey, “[We’ve] never been more united, as far as with membership… [It has been] sixteen years that the company has had its way, and it’s time for a fair contract.”
