More than 33,000 Boeing machinists walked out on strike just after midnight Sept. 13, just a few hours after voting down a tentative agreement by an overwhelming margin. International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers reported that 94.6% voted to reject the agreement, and 96% voted to strike. The strike shut down aircraft manufacturing plants in Gresham, Oregon, and in Renton and Everett, Washington. It’s the biggest U.S. strike so far in 2024, and the first strike at Boeing since a 58-day walkout in 2008.
“There’s been a lot of pent up anger and frustration because of the long-term contract that we’re coming out of,” said Brandon Bryan, directing business representative of Machinists District Lodge W24 in Oregon. Along with Jon Holden of Machinists District 751, Bryant helped lead the Boeing negotiations for the union.
This year was the first time Boeing workers have had a full-fledged contract renegotiation in 16 years. Their previous contract was extended twice amid threats that Boeing would manufacture new planes elsewhere, and the last of those extensions replaced the defined benefit pension with a 401(k) as of 2016. Bryant said that seemed to cause a big wound for the membership. Byrant said the resulting agreement was the best the union had ever gotten. But it wasn’t enough to heal that wound.
The offer members voted down would have included a 25% general wage increase over four years (an immediate 11%, followed by raises of 4%, 4% and 6% in the second, third, and fourth years). Cost-of-living raises tied to inflation were to be added to that. But the contract also ended an annual bonus that usually runs around 4%. The offer also included a $3,000 lump sum ratification bonus, and it reduced the medical premium cost share to 15%, down from 16%. Significantly, the agreement also committed Boeing to build any new plane in the Puget Sound, abandoning its previous use of new job promises to wrest concessions from workers.
But the company’s offer fell short of the union’s goal of a 40% wage increase over three years, and Boeing didn’t agree to the union’s proposal to restore the pension. The 40% was meant to catch workers up to inflation after years of raises of just 0.5% under the last contract.
The Machinists bargaining team reached tentative agreement on the new terms Sept. 8 after 27 days of almost nonstop negotiations at the Westin hotel in downtown Seattle. The union then scheduled meetings to explain the agreement, followed by the vote on Sept. 12. Union leaders had an inkling that members didn’t think the agreement was good enough, but the overwhelming rejection came as a surprise.
In the weeks and months before the contract vote, workers had been getting active on the shop floor, using their breaks to march around giant assembly bays blowing whistles.
As midnight approached, several dozen members of Machinists Lodge 63 gathered across from the Gresham Boeing plant for a countdown, then charged across the street to begin a spirited strike picket. About 1,200 machinists are employed at the Gresham plant. IBEW Local 125 lent its nearby secure parking lot as a staging area for strikers to assemble.
As of press time, the strike is continuing and is open-ended, though the two sides were scheduled to meet again to consider new offers.
