Factory workers at Boeing have voted to accept a contract offer and end their strike after more than seven weeks, paving the way for the aerospace giant to resume production of its best-selling planes and generate much-needed cash.
Leaders of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Seattle said 59 percent of members who cast votes agreed to approve the company’s fourth formal bid, while the third bid was put to a vote. The deal includes a 38% pay increase over four years, as well as bonuses for certification and productivity.
However, Boeing has refused to meet the strikers’ demand to restore the company’s pension plan, which has been frozen for nearly a decade.
The contract ratification on the eve of Election Day cleared the way for a major U.S. manufacturer and government contractor to restart assembly lines in the Pacific Northwest that had been halted by a 53-day strike.
Bank of America analysts estimated last month that Boeing was losing about $50 million a day during the now-ended strike, which did not affect a non-union plant in South Carolina where the company makes 787 planes.
Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a letter to employees that he was pleased to reach an agreement.
“Although the last few months have been difficult for all of us, we are all part of the same team,” Ortberg said. “We will only move forward by listening and working together. We still have a lot of work to do to return to the excellence that made Boeing special.”
According to the union, the 33,000 workers they represent could return to work on Wednesday or as late as November 12. Ortberg said it could take “a couple of weeks” to resume production in part because some workers may need to be retrained.
The average annual wage for Boeing mechanics is currently $75,608, and will eventually rise to $119,309 under the new contract, according to the company. The union said the compound value of the promised wage increase would amount to an increase of more than 43% over the term of the agreement.
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“It’s time for us to come together. This is a victory,” John Holden, president of IAM District 751, told members as he announced the tally late Monday. “You stood strong, you stood tall, and you won.”
Reactions were mixed even among union members who voted to accept the contract.
Although she voted “yes,” Seattle-based calibration specialist Ib Bolaño said the result was “definitely not a victory.” Bolaño said she and her fellow workers made the wise but infuriating decision to accept the offer.
“We were threatened by a company that was crippled, dying, bleeding on the ground, and we as one of the biggest unions in the country couldn’t even extract two-thirds of our demands from them. This is humiliating,” she said.
For other workers like William Gardiner, laboratory leader for calibration services, the revised display was cause for celebration.
“I’m very pleased with this vote,” said Gardiner, who worked for Boeing for 13 years. “We didn’t get everything right, that’s okay. Overall, it’s a very positive decade.”
Union leaders have supported the latest proposal, saying they believe they got everything they could through negotiations and the strike. In addition to the wage increase, the new contract gives each worker a $12,000 certification bonus, and maintains the performance bonus that the company wanted to eliminate.
“It is time for our members to realize these gains and confidently declare victory,” the local union district said before the vote. “We believe that asking members to remain on strike for a longer period would not be right because we have had so much success.”
President Joe Biden congratulated the mechanics and Boeing on reaching an agreement that he said supports workplace fairness and improves workers’ ability to retire with dignity. He said the contract is important for Boeing’s future as “an important part of the American aviation sector.”
Julie Su, acting Labor Secretary in the Biden administration, intervened in the negotiations several times, including when Boeing made its latest offer last week.
A continued strike would have plunged Boeing into further financial risk and uncertainty. Last month, Ortberg announced plans to lay off about 17,000 people and sell stock to prevent the company’s credit rating from being downgraded to junk status.
The strike began on September 13 with an overwhelming 94.6% rejection of the company’s offer of a 25% wage increase over four years — far short of the union’s original demand for a 40% wage increase over three years.
Machinists voted against another offer — a 35% raise over four years, with no pension revival — on Oct. 23, the same day Boeing reported a third-quarter loss of more than $6 billion.
The contract rejections reflect bitterness that has built up after union concessions and small wage increases over the past decade.
The labor standoff — the first strike by Boeing mechanics since an eight-week strike in 2008 — was the latest setback in a volatile year for the aerospace giant. The 2008 strike lasted eight weeks and cost the company about $100 million a day in deferred revenue. The 1995 strike lasted for 10 weeks.
Boeing has been the subject of several federal investigations this year after a door on a 737 Max exploded during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Federal regulators have placed limits on Boeing’s aircraft production that they say will continue until they feel confident about the safety of manufacturing at the company.
The door slamming incident has renewed concerns about the safety of the 737 MAX. Two planes crashed less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. The CEO at the time, whose efforts to reform the company failed, announced in March that he would step down. In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud to deceive regulators who approved the 737 MAX planes.
Washington Governor Jay Inslee said Monday’s vote puts Boeing’s future on firmer footing.
“Washington is home to the most skilled aviation workers in the world, and it is understandable that they have taken a stand for the respect and compensation they deserve,” Inslee said in a statement congratulating the workers.
Koenig reported from Dallas and Schoenbaum from Salt Lake City.
