Boeing Machinists Get New Offer | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Boeing auto union management received another contract offer in a bid to end the ongoing strike, which entered its eighth week on Friday.

The union announced the proposal Thursday afternoon and recommended members approve the deal. The 33,000 members of the striking machinist union will vote on the proposal on Monday.

“It is time for our members to lock in these gains and confidently declare victory,” the union wrote. “We think asking members to stay on strike longer would not be fair because we’ve had so much success.”

The offer includes an across-the-board pay increase of 38 percent over the next four years, rising to about 43 percent over the life of the agreement, the union said in a statement Thursday. Wages would increase by 13% in the first year, then by 9%, 9% and 7% in subsequent years.

A simple majority will determine whether the contract is accepted, the machines put back to work, or rejected, meaning the strike will continue. The strike shut down Boeing factories in Renton and Everett in Washington and elsewhere.

“In every negotiation and strike, there is a point where we have extracted everything we could in negotiations and by withholding our work,” the union said. “We’re at that point now and risk a regressive or lower offer in the future.”

The latest proposal includes a $12,000 ratification bonus.

That $12,000 is a combination of the $7,000 ratification bonus and the $5,000 lump sum contribution to the 401(k) plan that Boeing offered in its previous contract proposal. This time, members can choose how to split the $12,000 between their salary and the 401(k) plan, the union said.

The proposal retains many of the provisions of previous contract offers, including a minimum 4% annual bonus and a 100% company 401(k) match of up to 8%. It also increases the amount of money pension workers will receive each year.

It does not restore the pension plan, which many union members have said in recent weeks is a priority.

If union members approve the deal and end the strike, machinists must return to the plant by Nov. 12, according to a strike settlement agreement posted on the union’s website. The agreement also stated that all employees “shall be returned to the same job they had before the strike.”

Boeing said in a statement Thursday that it “encourages all of our employees to learn more about the enhanced offer” and is holding its vote on Monday.

In part to address the financial impact of the strike, Boeing initiated a huge stock sale this week.

It raised $21.1 billion to shore up its balance sheet, avoid a credit downgrade and buy more time as the strike continues.

This is the third contract offer the machinist union will vote on since negotiations began last spring. Union members voted overwhelmingly against the first offer, leading to the strike that began on September 13.

The union refused to put a second offer from Boeing to a vote in September because management said it did not meet members’ demands. Union leaders also objected to Boeing’s decision to release details of the offer to the media shortly after presenting it to the union’s bargaining committee.

Union members voted against another contract offer in October, although members were more divided, with 64 percent voting to reject the offer and 36 percent voting to accept the deal and end the strike.

About a week after that vote, the union met again with Boeing to “address key negotiation issues,” the auto union said in a statement late Tuesday. Acting US Labor Secretary Julie Su is helping to mediate the negotiations.

Union members who voted against the latest contract proposal earlier this month said the deal did not provide a big enough pay raise and did not address other key issues such as paid time off and faster advancement steps for employees to climb the Boeing ranks.

Other employees said they would not settle for a contract that did not restore the defined benefit pension plan.

In a bitter vote that still resonates among machinists today, the union voted 10 years ago to end the pension plan after Boeing threatened to pull some of its plane production from the Puget Sound region.

Boeing has said throughout those negotiations that restoring the pension plan is a non-starter. But in the latest contract vote, the machinists said they still hoped to see movement on their demand. Some workers held signs that read “No pension, no planes.”

After counting the votes last time, District 751 machinist union president Jon Holden told reporters the pension plan was “right at the heart of this for a lot of people.” If Boeing isn’t willing to reinstate it, then “we have to get something to replace it,” Holden continued, such as higher wages, a larger 401(k) contribution or other options that provide a defined benefit .

The last few weeks of negotiations have become tense, with each side accusing the other of not negotiating in good faith. The machinists went on strike over unfair labor practices in September. Boeing filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against the machinists’ union leadership in October.

As part of the strike settlement agreement, both sides would drop the charges filed with the labor board.

Boeing has steadily increased the overall wage increase in its contract offers, starting with a 25 percent increase over four years, then 30 percent, then 35 percent in the early October offer. The latest offer unveiled on Thursday includes a 38% across-the-board pay rise.

This is among the largest overall wage increases in the auto contract since 1977, according to union data.

Some contracts had lump sum payments of 12%, while most had general annual salary increases ranging from 7% to 2%.

Boeing said Thursday that the average annual salary of the machinists at the end of the proposed four-year contract will be $119,309.