A strike at a Boeing factory ends when workers vote to accept the contract

SEATTLE – Boeing factory workers voted in favor contract offer and that’s it their strike after more than seven weeks, it enabled the aviation giant to resume production of its best-selling passenger plane and generate much-needed cash.

Leaders of the Seattle District of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said 59% of members who cast votes agreed to approve the company’s fourth formal offer and put the third to a vote. The contract includes wage increase by 38%. within four years and ratification bonuses and productivity.

However, Boeing refused to meet the strikers’ demand to restore operations company pension plan which was frozen almost a decade ago.

Ratification of the agreement on on the eve of election day allowed a major U.S. manufacturer and government contractor to restart Pacific Northwest assembly lines that had been idled for 53 days by the strike.

Bank of America analysts estimated last month that Boeing lost about $50 million a day during the ended strike, which had no impact on the nonunion plant in South Carolina where the company produces 787 planes.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg in a message to employees, he stated that he was satisfied that the agreement had been reached.

“Even though the last few months have been difficult for all of us, we are all part of the same team,” Ortberg said. “We will only move forward by listening and working together. We have a lot of work ahead of us to return to the excellence that has made Boeing an iconic company.”

According to the union, the 33,000 employees it represents may return to work as early as Wednesday or as late as November 12. Ortberg said it could take “several weeks” to restart production, in part because some workers may need retraining.

According to the company, the average annual salary for Boeing mechanics is currently $75,608 and will eventually increase to $119,309 under the new contract. The union said the cumulative value of the promised increase would represent an increase of more than 43% over the life of the contract.

“It’s time for us to unite. This is a victory,” Jon Holden, IAM District 751 president, told members as he announced the results late Monday evening. “You were strong, you persevered and you won.”

Reactions were mixed even among union members who voted to accept the contract.

Although she voted yes, Seattle calibration specialist Eep Bolaño said the result was “definitely not a victory.” Bolaño said she and her colleagues made the wise but infuriating decision to accept the offer.

“We were threatened by a company that was crippled, dying, bleeding on the ground, and we, as one of the largest trade unions in the country, could not extract even two-thirds of our demands from it. It’s humiliating,” she said.

For other employees, such as William Gardiner, laboratory manager for Calibration Services, the revised offering was cause for celebration.

“I am extremely excited about this vote,” said Gardiner, who has worked for Boeing for 13 years. “We haven’t fixed everything – that’s OK. Overall, it is a very positive contract.”

Union leaders supported the latest proposal, saying they had achieved all they could through negotiations and the strike. With the wage increase, the new contract gives each employee a $12,000 ratification bonus and retains the performance bonus that the company wanted to eliminate.

“It is time for our members to consolidate these gains and confidently declare victory,” the local union district announced before the vote. “We don’t think it would be right to ask members to go on an extended strike because we have had so much success.”

President Joe Biden congratulated machinists and Boeing on reaching an agreement that he said supports fairness in the workplace and improves workers’ ability to retire with dignity. The contract, he said, is important for Boeing’s future as a “key part of the U.S. aerospace sector.”

Biden’s acting labor secretary, Julie Su, has intervened in negotiations several times, including when Boeing made its final offer last week.

A continuation of the strike would bring down Boeing further financial risk and uncertainty. Last month, Ortberg announced the plans lay off approximately 17,000 people ia inventory sales to prevent the company’s credit rating from being downgraded to junk status.

The strike has started On September 13, an overwhelming 94.6% vote rejected the company’s offer for a 25% wage increase over four years – significantly less than the union’s original demand for a 40% wage increase over three years.

Machinists voted down another offer – a 35% raise over four years and still no pension resumption – on October 23, the same day Boeing announced its third-quarter report a loss of over $6 billion.

The rejection of the contracts reflected the bitterness that has built up over union concessions and modest wage increases over the past decade.

The workers’ strike — the first strike by Boeing machinists since an eight-week strike in 2008 — was the latest setback in a volatile year for aviation giant. The 2008 strike lasted eight weeks and cost the company approximately $100 million a day in deferred revenues. The 1995 strike lasted 10 weeks.

Boeing came under several federal investigations this year after the door stopper shot down a 737 Max plane during a January flight with Alaska Airlines. Federal regulators imposed restrictions on the production of Boeing planes that they said would continue until they felt certain production safety in the company.

The door plug incident has renewed concerns about the safety of the 737 Max. Two of the planes crashed less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. The announcement was made in March by the then-CEO, whose attempts to turn around the company had failed he would relent. In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiring to commit fraud by defrauding regulators in approving the 737 Max plane.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Monday’s vote puts Boeing’s future on firmer footing.

“Washington is home to some of the most skilled aerospace workers in the world, and they have understandably stood up for the respect and pay they deserve,” Inslee said in a statement congratulating the workers.

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Koenig reported from Dallas and Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake City.