The Boeing factory strike ends when workers vote to accept the contract

SEATTLE (AP) — Factory workers at Boeing voted to accept a contract offer and end their strike After more than seven weeks, the way was cleared for the aerospace giant to resume production of its best-selling aircraft and generate much-needed cash.

Leaders of Seattle’s International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers district said 59% of voting members agreed to approve the company’s fourth formal offer and the third was put to a vote. The agreement includes a pay increase of 38% over four years, and ratification and productivity bonuses.

However, Boeing refused to meet the strikers’ demand for reinstatement a company pension scheme that was frozen almost ten years ago.

The ratification of the contract on the eve of election day cleared the way for a major U.S. manufacturer and government contractor to restart assembly lines in the Pacific Northwest that had been shut down for 53 days.

Bank of America analysts estimated last month that Boeing lost about $50 million a day during the now-ended strike, which did not affect a non-union plant in South Carolina where the company makes 787s.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a message to employees that he was pleased an agreement had been reached.

“Although the past few months have been difficult for all of us, we are all part of the same team,” Ortberg said. “We can only move forward by listening and working together. There is still much work to be done to return to the excellence that made Boeing an iconic company.”

According to the union, the 33,000 employees it represents can return to work as early as Wednesday or as late as November 12. Ortberg has said it could take “a few weeks” before partial production resumes as some workers may need retraining.

The average annual salary of Boeing machinists is currently $75,608 and will eventually rise to $119,309 under the new contract. The union said the compound value of the promised wage increase would amount to an increase of more than 43% over the term of the agreement.

“It’s time for us to come together. This is a victory,” Jon Holden, president of IAM District 751, told members as he announced the count late Monday. “You stood strong and you stood strong and you won.”

Reactions were mixed, even among union members who voted in favor of the contract.

Although she voted “yes,” Seattle-based calibration specialist Eep Bolaño said the outcome was “certainly not a victory.” Bolaño said she and her colleagues made a wise but infuriating choice 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 unions in the country couldn’t get even two-thirds of our demands from them. This is humiliating,” she said.

For other employees, like William Gardiner, a laboratory leader in calibration services, the revised offer was a cause for celebration.

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

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

“It is time for our members to lock in these gains and confidently declare victory,” the local union district said before the vote. “We believe that it would not be right to ask members to continue on strike because we have had so much success.”

President Joe Biden congratulated the 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 to Boeing’s future as “a critical part of the American aerospace industry.”

Biden’s acting Labor Secretary, Julie Su, intervened in the negotiations several times, including when Boeing made its latest offer last week.

A prolonged strike would have caused problems for Boeing even more financial danger and uncertainty. Last month, Ortberg announced plans to do so lay off about 17,000 people and a stock sales to prevent the company’s credit rating from being reduced to junk status.

The strike began September 13 with an overwhelming 94.6% rejection of the company’s offer to increase wages by 25% over four years – far less than the union’s original demand for 40% wage increases over three years.

Machinists rejected another offer on October 23 – 35% raise over four years, and still no pension revival – the same day Boeing reported a third-quarter report. loss of more than $6 billion.

The contract rejections reflected the acrimony that had built up over the past decade after union concessions and small wage increases.

The labor impasse – the first strike by Boeing machinists since an eight-week strike in 2008 – was the latest setback in a volatile year for the aerospace giant. The 2008 strike lasted eight weeks and cost the company about $100 million a day in deferred revenue. A 1995 strike lasted ten weeks.

Boeing fell under several federal investigations this year after a door plug blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Federal regulators imposed limits on Boeing plane production that they said would last until they had confidence safety in production at the company.

The door plug incident raised new concerns about the safety of the 737 Max. Two of the planes had crashed less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. The then CEO, whose attempts to revamp the company failed, announced this in March he would resign. In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for misleading regulators who approved the 737 Max.

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

“Washington is home to the most skilled aerospace workers in the world, and they have understandably taken a stand for the respect and compensation they deserve,” Inslee said in a statement congratulating the workers.