SEATTLE — Members of the International Association of Machinists District 751 and W24 decisively voted down Boeing’s latest contract offer — by 64% — Oct. 23. Some 33,000 workers at the aerospace manufacturer from here in Washington to Southern California have been on strike since Sept. 13.
The bosses’ offer included a 35% wage increase over four years, along with a 4% annual bonus and a $7,000 bonus now to try to get workers to pass the contract. But it didn’t include reinstatement of the pension plan, a central demand of the strikers.
In 2014 the union passed a concession contract after bosses threatened they would move production from the Seattle area, throwing thousands here out of work. That contract froze the pension plan, eliminated pensions for new hires, increased medical insurance costs and locked workers into 0.5% annual wage increases for eight years.
Getting the pension back is the most important part of the next contract, one worker, who did not want to give her name, told the Militant. “Boeing said this is a nonstarter,” she said. “However, the 401(k) is so unpredictable. You don’t know how much it’ll be worth once you need it. We need something more guaranteed than that.”
Under a pension plan workers collect a fixed monthly benefit for the rest of their lives. Payouts from a 401(k) — which are overwhelmingly funded by deductions from a worker’s paycheck and invested in stocks — go up or down depending on stock market fluctuations.
“The most important thing to me in this contract is having a livable wage,” Debra Harrington told the Militant at a picket line at Boeing’s Renton plant. She works on the P-8 Navy aircraft there. “We want to catch up on 16 years of low wages, and then after that Boeing should pay us what we deserve.”
Harrington pointed to the high amount of overtime many of them put in to stay on top of basic life expenses and to meet the profit-driven production goals of the company. “I know some workers here were doing over 50 days of work in a row just to pay their mortgages. They have families they are trying to take care of, but some of them hardly get to see them.”
Solidarity is pouring in
Raymo Natalizio, 34, a Tacoma port worker, was at the picket line in Renton. He was recently part of an organizing drive to win recognition for the International Longshore and Warehouse Union. “My family has been in the ILWU and I’ve been to many picket lines. Joining others on strike gives you a sense of community,” he told the Militant. His partner is one of the Machinists currently on strike at Boeing.
Members of the retiree group of the ILWU here contributed $500. “Four of us went to the union hall in Seattle and gave them the check,” Mark Downs, one of the retired ILWU workers, said. “We also went to the picket line with our signs.” The ILWU wouldn’t have won strikes it fought in previous decades “if it wasn’t for solidarity from other unions,” Downs said.
Members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace union, which represents the engineers at Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems, have shown up regularly to join the picket lines bringing sandwiches and water.
The engineers’ union is donating up to $99,000 to IAM District 751’s hardship fund, depending on the length of the strike: $33,000 has already been donated and another contribution of $16,500 is scheduled for this week.
Local businesses and farmers have been donating pounds of fruit, coffee and fresh meals to the pickets and union halls. “Seattle Strike HQ has been the bearer of crates of produce from Artemis Farms in Woodinville and Goblin Farm in Woodinville. Just last week, IAM 751 members were gifted nearly 1,200 pounds of grapes,” an Oct. 28 strike update by the union says.
Additionally, local restaurants and other businesses have been offering striking workers temporary jobs.
More help is needed. To send messages of support and make a donation, go to www.iam751.org and click on “Contract 2024.”
Rebecca Williamson contributed to this article.