Boeing said on Monday that it had made striking union workers its “best and final offer,” which included larger pay increases and higher bonuses than a proposed collective bargaining agreement that was overwhelmingly rejected.
The company announced that the offer included a salary increase of 30 percent over a period of four years. The rejected increase of 25 percent had therefore not yet been implemented.
The new offer – and the designation as the last – shows Boeing’s willingness to end the strike of about 33,000 machinists that began on September 13. The company had introduced flexible furloughs for non-union employees last week to save costs during the strike.
The strikers are under financial pressure to return to work. They received their final paychecks last week and will lose their health insurance at the end of the month, Boeing said.
The company said its new offer is contingent on members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers ratifying the contract by Friday evening, when the strike will be just over two weeks old.
The union representing factory workers who assemble some of the company’s best-selling planes said it was reviewing the offer.
“Employees knew Boeing executives could do more, and this shows that workers were right from the start,” said Brian Bryant, the union’s international president, in a statement. “The proposal will be analyzed to see if it helps workers make up for their past sacrifices,”
Boeing’s latest offer includes an immediate 12 percent salary increase and three annual salary increases of 6 percent each.
Ratification bonuses would be doubled and raised to $6,000. Annual bonuses based on productivity would also be maintained. In the rejected contract, Boeing wanted to replace these payments with new contributions to pension accounts.
Boeing said the average annual salary for machinists will increase from the current $75,608 to $111,155 at the end of the four-year contract.
The new offer does not include reinstating a traditional pension plan that Boeing eliminated about a decade ago. Striking workers cited wages and pensions as reasons for voting against the company’s previous offer by 94.6 percent.
Boeing also renewed its promise to build its next new airliner in the Seattle area when that project begins in the next four years. That was a key condition for union leaders, who recommended accepting the original contract offer, but which rank-and-file members found less convincing.
The strike is already likely to affect Boeing’s ability to make money. The company makes much of its money by delivering new planes, but the strike has halted production of the 737, 777 and 767. Work on the 787 continues in South Carolina with non-union workers.
On Friday, Boeing began requiring thousands of managers and nonunion employees to take a week of unpaid leave every four weeks as part of the temporary layoffs. The company also announced a hiring freeze, reduced business travel and lower spending on suppliers.
The cost-cutting measures are expected to continue as long as the strike lasts.
