Will you chip in to support our nonprofit newsroom with a donation today? Yes, I want to support My Edmonds News!
Thousands of Boeing factory workers in the Puget Sound region who’ve been on strike for over a month are expected to vote this week on a new contract proposal, their union said Saturday.
This latest offer improves wages and retirement benefits compared to the proposal that workers voted down in mid-September before going on strike. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said members would vote Wednesday on whether to accept the new proposal.
“The workers will ultimately decide if this specific proposal is sufficient in meeting their very legitimate needs and goal of achieving respect and fairness at Boeing,” IAM District 751 President Jon Holden and IAM District W24 President Brandon Bryant said in a joint statement.
Details of a potential strike settlement, including a date for when union members would return to work if the contract is approved, will be part of the upcoming vote, the union said.
Boeing released a one-page document Saturday morning with highlights of the offer. “We look forward to our employees voting on the negotiated proposal,” the company said in a statement.
Under the new proposal, workers would see a 35% general wage increase spread over four years, with 12% of the boost in the first year. An incentive pay program would be reinstated, with a guaranteed minimum annual payout of 4%, and workers would receive a one-time contract ratification bonus of $7,000.
A prior non-negotiated offer the company released on Sept. 23 proposed a 30% general wage increase over four years. The proposal the workers overwhelmingly rejected in mid-September included a general wage increase of 25% and a $3,000 ratification bonus.
Workers had been pushing for a 40% hike. The union said Saturday that with compounding wage increases over the life of the contract, the rise in pay should meet that demand.
“It should be safe to say that our goal of over 40% wage growth during the life of the agreement has been achieved,” the union said in an announcement about the offer.
On the retirement benefits front, the company is offering to match 100% of the first 8% of pay an employee puts toward their 401(k) account, along with an automatic 4% company contribution. The proposal also includes one-time $5,000 contributions to workers’ 401(k) accounts.
The offer that union members voted down in September featured a 75% match on 401(k) contributions up to 8% of pay, along with the automatic 4% company contribution.
Workers have been seeking reinstatement of a defined-benefit pension plan. But Boeing has been firm in its unwillingness to revive the pension program.
More than 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Washington, Oregon and California are taking part in the strike, which reached its 37th day on Saturday.
The work stoppage, which has halted airplane manufacturing at Boeing facilities around the Northwest, comes as the company is dealing with financial pressures and scrutiny of its safety record. Last week, Boeing announced it would cut about 17,000 employees over the coming months.
In recent days, members of Washington’s congressional delegation — including Democratic U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell — urged the company and the union to reach an agreement.
Since the strike began, talks have involved a federal mediator. The union said Saturday that acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su met with union and company officials this week to help move along negotiations.
— By Bill Lucia, Washington State Standard
Washington State Standard is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Washington State Standard maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Bill Lucia for questions: info@washingtonstatestandard.com. Follow Washington State Standard on Facebook and X.
Sounds good especially cause they are going to be facing higher taxes from the government, did I mention seniors are only getting a 2.5% raise. Wonder how come our government continues to throw seniors under the bus, the average payment in 2010 was 501 dollars according to Google with cola adjustments the increases are still 15% below inflation, all while we have borrowed trillions on foreign wars, givin to other nations, illegal immigration and of course other social programs. Did you know we spend just about the same amount on servicing our debt as we do paying seniors. Where did the money go well it has to go through 4 different branches of government and nonprofits before anyone sees a dime, did you know several years ago nonprofits were a 1.4 trillion dollar industry with the majority of the money coming from government I bet it has doubled by now it is probably the fastest growing industry in the country. Please don’t let any politician ever tell you that they have your best interests at heart they care nothing for us they only care about how much they can extract from us to feed the machine.
Wow, Jim, that is a remarkable segue you just performed in your MENS contribution about the Boeing strike. You and I should get together for a beer or coffee. We have so much in common. We are both verbose. We enjoy bad grammar, poor punctuation and questionable spelling. We pontificate more than the Pope. We both play loose with facts and figures. We avoid editing. And we like to see ourselves in print. I had a bit of success during our time together on MENS. I did get you to admit that government is not evil. At this point I will cry, “Uncle.” There so no way I can rescue you from the false statements you make somehow while talking about the strike at Boeing. Of course I understand that you do not need or want rescue. Carry on, comrade in comments, and get whatever pleasure you can on these pages.
Just what is false? I think it would be easy for you to look up. As far as far as spelling, grammar, punctuation and editing I can thank my 6th grade education from the Edmonds school district. Have a nice day.
First of all and most importantly, thanks,Jim, for the wish to me to have a nice day. It is the nicest thing that I believe that I have ever seen you write.
Secondly, it is easy to blame one’s elementary teachers for lots of things. People should continue to learn after their time there.
Thirdly, no matter what some malcontents on the right say or believe, there are only three branches in our federal and state governments: legislative, executive and judicial. This is the easiest error for me to point out that you made in your paragraph. Regarding the other errors, most notably about NGOs, there is not much point in discussing issues about which you have already made up your mind.
Once again thanks for the good wish and the best to you.
I was thinking federal, state, county and city 4. Don’t they each tax us separately? Don’t they each have their own executive legislative and judicial branches? Don’t many of those dollars we give them get filtered? For example federal to state, state to nonprofit. Or county and or city each taking a piece of the pie. Duplication of government makes government very expensive then add nonprofits. Isn’t this very inefficient? How about my SS numbers how is the average retired person supposed to live on the peanuts they receive? Me I am looking at 1300 a month. Might as well be homeless which costs way more than just giving seniors enough to get by on. Hope this clears up my thoughts for you. I don’t blame the school system entirely but they certainly could have made me learn more to get through the system and I am afraid a job of hard labor doesn’t lean itself to better writing skills. I just think after 45 years contributing to the system the least the government could do is give me enough to cover the rent.
The Jim and Michael “ping pong” “bsck and forth” match seems to have been called off for now due to wind, rain and darkness. 🙂 Hopefully a Boeing Union settlement soon.
In SoW we have strong unions who are well supported by our elected officials. Our legislature has set work rules and other union friendly concepts into law. Unions play an important role in our society. Teachers, Police and Fire have all done a good job or their members.
Unions can play the “back and forth” game as well. The legislature increased Basic Education funding. Much of the first $’s went into teachers’ salaries. Great! The door was opened for salary completion between other local teachers’ unions. Police and Fire have the same salary competition. Union settlements above estimates added to our budget gap. We paid around 20% more for Fire and Police and gave the same increases to our non-represented employees.
As Jim points out, SS and other incomes are not keeping up. Folks are going backwards on our ability to pay for normal living expenses. Council will have to deal with the Gap with Cuts, New non-Property Tax Revenues and new Property Taxes. The current publicly stated plan is to have 2 separate Levies, one in April and one later in the year.
If you do decide to have that beer, I’ll buy.
What say you Michael, care to take Darrol up on his offer for a free beer? I might even go up to the emissions station and take a shower and brush my few remaining teeth cause lord knows I can’t afford to run the water in Edmonds anymore. Over 300 dollars for 14 units, divided by 2 that’s over 150 a month it is more than my electric and gas bills combined. It isn’t often the village idiot gets invited out so I am game I promise to be on my best behavior just let me know when and where.
Thanks, Darrol, for bring the MENS commentary back to the topic of the Boeing strike and potential settlement.
Hi Michael, the major push back has been a defined pension plan. By their vote the union will signal their willingness to consider other forms of saving for retirement. Years ago DP were the norm. The work model in a lot of cases was to work for the same company for your whole career. IRAs 401s came along later. Economists often pointed out the DP hampered what I think was called mobility of labor. 401s are portable, just move to the next job and take it with you.
I volunteer with a group helping folks get a tax rebate. Mostly older people but many do have a defined pension. The ones I see are mostly from State Pension program. One lady had her State of California program, and two from the State of Washington, her own and her deceased husband. Not sure but I think police and fire unions are part of the state system?
Unions have good wage and benefit packages for their employees. We will soon see if the Boeing increase in retirement income is enough to overcome the unions wishes to go back to a defined pension.
All your comments, Darrol, fit with the LTE article, and I think add to the understanding of the issues important to Boeing, its union members and the country. To reinforce your point I have a state-backed defined pension. My father had a company pension. My children have 401s. Social Security is an excellent insurance program. It will not offer enough to live on in retirement.
Michael, what we have is a legitimate confrontation between a company and its employees. Earlier Jim made the point the same point you are making now. Yes, SS is an excellent insurance program but falls short on the retirement income needs. If all of our children sort have a more complete understanding of what it might take for a comfortable retirement, they will see they need to plan for retirement to create supplemental income. 401s do that and all other forms of investing do that as well.
Boeing had and still has?? I think defined pension plans. But companies need to survive and make a profit to pay their employees and investors.
Here is an off the wall idea that could work but will not be done. It is a form of sharing profit and success.
Create a new Defined Pension Plan that is funded with the funds currently flowing from the company to the current 401k plans. Add to that a form of stock that is tied directly to the success of the company. That pool of funds and assets back the Pension Plan and can go up or down based on the success of the company and its employees. Company success drives the future Pensions. Yes a form of profit sharing but with added features.
Probably not going to happen.