Boeing Machinists in Oregon and Washington returned to work Nov. 6, ending a 54 day-strike and locking in historic contract gains.
The new four-year agreement raises wages 43.65% over four years when the annual raises are compounded. It raises pay an immediate 13% followed by annual raises of 9%, 9%, and 7%. Those raises totaled 3 percentage points higher than an earlier Boeing offer that workers rejected by 64% on Oct. 23. They were also 13 percentage points higher than the offer workers rejected by 94% just before they walked out on strike Sept. 13. The final wage settlement was close to the union proposal of 40% raises over three years.
But Boeing held out against the union demand to restore the pension that the company froze in 2016. That explained a less-than-overwhelming vote to ratify the agreement. With 26,000 members casting ballots Nov. 4, 59% voted to accept Boeing’s contract offer.
“I think this really sets the standard for what unions can do,” said Machinists District Lodge W24 president Brandon Bryant. “When you stand together and are strong and you’re prepared, you can do great things.”
Beyond the sizable raises, the contract settlement also:
- Provides a $12,000 ratification bonus which can be taken as pay, as a 401(k) contribution, or some combination (It combined Boeing’s earlier offers of a $7,000 ratification bonus and a $5,000 lump sum 401(k) contribution.)
- Boosts starting pay from $12 to $21 an hour
- Reinstates an annual bonus known as the Aerospace Machinists Performance Plan. The bonus is based on metrics on safety, quality, and productivity, not on Boeing’s financial performance, which workers have no direct control over. Paid out each February, the bonus has averaged 3.8% in recent years, but Boeing proposed to get rid of it in the offer that workers rejected before the strike. The new contract guarantees that the annual bonus will be at least 4% of gross wages, and it could be up to 6% if collective performance targets are met.
- Reduces mandatory overtime. The previous contract limited mandatory weekend work to three weekends in a row. The new contract says Boeing can’t require more than one weekend in a row. The old contract also allowed up to four hours a day of mandatory overtime; the new one limits it to two hours a day.
- Maintains an 4% automatic employer contribution to the 401(k). Known as the Special Company Retirement Contribution (SCRC), this was the company’s substitute when it stopped contributing to the traditional pension in 2016. It started at 10%, but since then dropped to 6% and then 4%.
- Increases the company’s 401(k) match on top of the SCRC. Boeing will match 100% of worker contributions of up to 8% of gross wages. That’s up from 75% in the previous contract.
- Increases the pension multiplier to $105, up from $95, for those who were vested in the pension before Boeing pulled out in 2016. The way the multiplier works, retirees in the Boeing Company Employee Retirement Plan (BCERP) will now get $105 per month for every year they worked for Boeing through 2016.
- Reduces the employee share of health insurance costs to 15%, down from 16%, which immediately decreases the monthly contributions
- Commits that the next airplane will be built in the Puget Sound
- Commits to maintain current employment levels in facilities and maintenance jobs
- Establishes paid parental leave, up to 12 weeks of full salary for the birth or adoption of a new baby. Programs in Oregon and Washington mandate 12 weeks of paid leave, but the state program benefit is on a sliding scale and replaces only about 75% of wages for a typical Boeing machinist. Boeing’s program pays workers’ full salary while they bond with a new child.
- Commits to regular high-level meetings between union and company leaders, including quarterly face-to-face meetings with the CEO.
Restoring the pension wasn’t the only union demand left out of the settlement. Union negotiators also pushed for a quicker progression from the starting wage to the top wage tier. Right now that takes six years, and the union proposed it be shortened to four, but Boeing refused. The company also rejected proposals that there be union seats on Boeing’s board of directors.
The strike settlement includes immediate restoration of health benefits retroactive to when they were canceled Oct. 1. That means anything workers were out of pocket for medical expenses or COBRA payments will be refunded. Combined with the retirement bonus, that largely makes up for any income workers lost while on strike.
Boeing machinists had waited a long time for this showdown: It was their first actual contract renegotiation in 16 years. The previous contract, which expired on Sept. 12, was agreed to in 2008 after a 58-day strike. That was meant to be a four-year agreement, but it was extended by four years in 2011 and another eight years in 2013. The second extension came amid threats by Boeing to move production of its new 777X airliner out of Washington unless workers agreed to accept 1% raises every other year and give up their pension plan, replacing it with a 401(k). That extension passed by 51% on a re-vote, which was held while many workers were on vacation. So for 11 years, union members bided their time, watching the company pay out record executive pay and reward stockholders by spending billions on stock. Many put money away to prepare for a strike.
“If you’re prepared, you can do great things,” said Bryant, the president of Oregon-based District W24. “Everybody did their part — our negotiating committee, our strike captains, our stewards, our staff at the office handling phone calls. We could not have done what we did without each and every one of them…. It’s just a shining example what a union is really about.”
The deal was reached with the help of Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su, who served as a mediator, shuttling between Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg and the union bargaining team as they huddled in different rooms in the Department of Labor’s Seattle offices.
Bryant said he came to believe that was about the best deal Boeing was willing to give. The strike had been devastating Boeing financially, costing an estimated $1 billion a month. But Boeing top brass seemed to be girding for a long fight the week before the settlement. The company was able to line up commitments for up to $10 billion in additional credit, and sold additional shares on Wall Street, raising over $20 billion in capital.
“We’ve got to fight for everything,” said striker Sean Harrington. That’s what he was told by older coworkers when he started at Boeing in 2011 — that every few years, it’s necessary to strike if they want anything to improve. It’s a message Harrington says he’s tried to pass on to less senior workers.
The new collective bargaining agreement is retroactive to September 13, 2024 and will run through September 7, 2028.
Under the settlement, strikers were allowed to return to work as early as Nov. 6 or as late as Nov. 12.
“Frontline workers at Boeing have done their part to begin rebalancing the scales in favor of the middle class,” said Seattle District 751 leader Jon Holden in a press statement. “In doing so, we hope to inspire other workers in our industry and beyond to continue standing up for justice at work.”
