RENTON, Wash. — The 33,000 Machinists at Boeing voted Oct. 23 on a third contract offer from Boeing. It includes a 35% pay hike over four years, a $7,000 ratification bonus and an increase in the company’s contribution to the 401(k) plan. The result of the vote wasn’t released before the Militant went to press.
Despite the wage increase, the latest offer does not include reinstating the pension plan, a key demand of the strike. Jon Holden, president of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751, told members the new offer was “worthy of your consideration” but stopped short of recommending it, saying it’s up to the membership to decide.
The Machinists rejected the company’s first offer of a 25% wage increase Sept. 13, walking out on strike. Boeing was unsuccessful in a later attempt to bypass the union and take a 30% wage offer directly to the members.
“It sounds like a good offer, but it’s not what we asked for. Pensions are one of the biggest issues,” Myles Sims, a wing panels machine operator with 12 years at Boeing, told the Militant. Sims would get a partial pension because his start date was before pensions were lost in a 2014 contract that narrowly passed.
That bitterly contested concession contract froze pensions for workers, eliminated them for new hires, increased employee medical insurance expenses, and gave a measly 0.5% wage raise annually over an eight-year contract, with a no-strike clause.
“We’re already dealing with inflation from the last 16 years,” Sims said. “If we don’t deal with it now, we might have to go out again four years from now.
“A lot of us want to go back to work, send kids to college, get back to our lives,” he continued. “It used to be you got a job at Boeing, you had it made. Now you have to get a second job. That’s not just here, that’s through the rest of the country.” It’s why, he explained, they have stood strong throughout this struggle with 24/7 pickets.
Vincent Auger, Socialist Workers Party candidate for governor of Washington state, met Sean Mulvihill, a vertical painter, on the picket line Oct. 21. They discussed how workers at Spirit AeroSystems, which makes fuselages for the Renton plant, went on strike in 2023 and made gains on pushing back mandatory overtime.
“That’s one of the big issues here,” Mulvihill, a father of two small children, said. “I want to spend time with my family — you can’t put a price on that. Working a lot puts stress on my family.
“The pension is my top priority. I’m shooting for an hourly wage bump and an increase in 401(k). The health insurance is manageable, and ideally we’ll get more say on overtime,” he said.
Machinist members prepared and counseled new hires to gear up for a strike this year. “But things are starting to get tight,” Mulvihill admitted. “I don’t talk to a lot of people, but most people I talk to say ‘no’ across the board to the company’s offer. We’re going to stand strong as long as everyone else does. It’s a really good mood on the lines.”
The union slogan on T-shirts and signs says, “This is our future, our fight!” This attitude has been evident throughout the struggle. They get a steady stream of support from workers passing by, from school bus drivers to Boeing firefighters, nurses, hotel workers, electricians, railroaders, retail workers and others, strikers told the Militant.
Pressure has increased on Boeing as the strike continues, with the company losing an estimated $1 billion a month. The bosses are already facing difficulty after two deadly 737 MAX crashes and other challenges. CEO Kelly Ortberg has announced plans to cut 17,000 jobs and sell up to $25 billion in stock. The company delivered just one 737 jet this month, its best selling model, as production is shut down tight.
Suppliers for Boeing have also begun to be affected. Spirit AeroSystems announced it was furloughing 700 workers. Senior Aerospace, a U.K. based company, is also weighing layoffs.
Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su has been meeting with union and company representatives, pushing for a settlement.
“Boeing has been hobbled by investigations into crashes and a midair mishap, production delays and a strike. A breakup or bankruptcy are no longer unthinkable,” the Wall Street Journal wrote Oct. 21.
The strike is one of a number of important labor battles unfolding today.