Boeing is offering its employees a 25% pay raise over four years to avoid a strike that could potentially lead to assembly line shutdowns as early as Friday.
Union leaders representing more than 30,000 workers urged workers to support the proposal, calling it the best contract they had ever negotiated.
If the agreement is adopted, it would be an important success for Boeing’s new CEOKelly Ortberg, who is under pressure to fix the company’s quality and reputation problems.
Boeing workers in the Seattle and Portland area are expected to vote on the deal on Thursday, but if the deal is rejected, a second vote with the approval of two-thirds of union members will be needed for the strike to go ahead.
In a video message to Boeing employees, Stephanie Pope, the aerospace giant’s chief operating officer, called the proposal a “historic offer.”
If ratified by members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), it would be the first full collective bargaining agreement between the company and unions in 16 years.
The current collective bargaining agreement between Boeing and the unions was signed in 2008 after an eight-week strike. Both sides agreed to extend it in 2014. Now it expires at the end of this week.
Although the Although the tentative agreement did not meet the union’s original goal of a 40% wage increase, negotiators still praised the agreement and advised members to accept it.
“We can honestly say that this proposal is the best contract we have negotiated in our history,” the IAM said in a statement.
In addition to the salary increase, the agreement offers employees improved health and pension benefits as well as 12 weeks of paid parental leave.
It also includes Boeing’s commitment to build its next commercial aircraft in the Seattle area if the project begins during the contract term. It is not clear when the company will unveil its next aircraft.
The agreement also gives union members more say in safety and quality issues.
“Financially, the company is in a difficult position due to many self-inflicted missteps. It is the IAM members who will get the company back on track,” the union negotiators said, referring to the crises Boeing has faced in recent years.
Mr. Ortberg, an aerospace industry veteran and engineer, took over as Boeing’s new chief executive officer last month.
His appointment came at a time when the company was reporting mounting financial losses and continued to struggle to restore its reputation following recent in-flight incidents and two fatal accidents five years ago.
