Boeing workers wave picket signs as they strike near the company’s plant in Everett, Washington, on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024, after union members voted against a contract offer.
Lindsey Wasson/AP
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Lindsey Wasson/AP
Boeing said Monday it had made a “best and final offer” to striking engineers that included bigger raises and higher bonuses. But the workers’ union said the proposal was not good enough and there would be no vote on ratification before Boeing’s deadline at the end of the week.
The union complained that Boeing made its latest offer to the 33,000 striking workers without first negotiating with union negotiators.
“Boeing does not have the power to decide when or if you vote,” representatives of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAA) District 751 told their members on Monday evening. “The company has refused to meet for further discussions; therefore, we will not vote on Friday,” Boeing stressed.
Boeing said two days of talks with federal mediators last week failed to reach an agreement. “We have now submitted a final offer that includes significant improvements and takes into account feedback from the union and our employees.”
The new offer is more generous than the one that was overwhelmingly rejected earlier this month. The company said the offer includes pay increases of 30 percent over four years, up from 25 percent in the first proposal. The union had originally demanded 40 percent over three years.
The new offer – and the designation as the last – shows how much Boeing wants to end the strike that began on September 13. To save costs during the strike, the company introduced short-time work for its non-union employees last week.
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 Pacific Northwest Machinists Union 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 waited several hours before taking action Monday evening.
“This proposal does not go far enough to address your concerns, and Boeing has missed the mark with this proposal,” the union told its members. The group added that it would survey its members on the new offer.
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.
