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Boeing Machinists head to the polls in decisive vote that could end strike

Lauren Rosenblatt and Dominic Gates, The Seattle Times on

Published in Business News

Striking Boeing Machinists union members are voting today on the company’s latest bid to end their strike, now in its ninth week.

The Machinists went on strike Sept. 13, idling Boeing’s assembly plants in Renton and Everett as the plane-maker’s cash reserves dwindle. Union members rejected two prior offers, believing they could win greater concessions on pay and retirement benefits from Boeing.

On Thursday, Boeing put forward another offer, which includes a 38% general pay hike over four years. Union leadership has recommended that the union’s 33,000 members accept the offer in Monday’s vote, which would bring the strike to an end on Wednesday.

A simple majority of ballots cast will decide whether the offer is approved or rejected. Voting is expected to conclude shortly after 7 p.m. Pacific time, with results announced shortly thereafter.

Union leaders have said Boeing threatened that, if the latest offer is rejected, the next one will be less generous. While Boeing did not specify what would be taken away if it were to fail, Machinists union District 751 President Jon Holden said Boeing might cancel a commitment to build the next airplane in the Puget Sound region, back away from a 38% wage increase or rescind a 1% decrease in health care costs.

Boeing’s proposal is an incremental improvement on the last offer rejected by Machinists, with an additional 3% general wage increase to achieve that 38% raise over four years.

Holden said the company was unwilling to budge on restoring the traditional pension it forced the Machinists to give up 10 years ago, a sticking point for some strikers.

Federal mediators and the U.S. Labor Department brought up alternative retirement plans that provide a defined benefit but don’t saddle the company with unknown, unfunded liabilities. Boeing wasn’t interested in pursuing them.

 

Boeing’s October share sale did net the company more time.

It raised $21.1 billion last week, selling additional shares in the company to shore up its balance sheet and stave off a potential credit-rating downgrade. With the big capital injection, analysts from Jefferies wrote Friday that Boeing is “likely in a stronger negotiating position.”

Workers are meanwhile burning through their savings. The analysts calculated Friday that the average “financial pain” for workers is $10,400 in lost wages. That’s nearing the $12,000 ratification bonus on offer and, for some workers, the $9,900 that they would gain in wage increases in the first year of the contract.

The company’s new offer, in addition to not restoring the defined benefit pension, also didn’t increase the company’s contribution to the 401(k) retirement plan from the previous offer.

Instead, it rolled into one the previous offer’s $7,000 ratification bonus and one-time $5,000 contribution to the 401(k), allowing workers to choose how to split the $12,000 payment between their paycheck, retirement plan or both.

If the contract offer is accepted, Machinists can return to work as early as Wednesday. They would have to return to the factory by Nov. 12.


©2024 The Seattle Times. Visit seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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