Boeing Machinists reject latest offer; strike continues

EVERETT — Boeing Machinists rejected the latest contract offer from the company Wednesday, extending the nearly five-week-old strike that has cost the company billions of dollars and counting.

Machinists voted 64% to reject the latest offer and extend the strike. The results were announced Wednesday night.

pic.twitter.com/2govixrD60— IAM Union District 751 (@IAM751) October 24, 2024

The results come after Machinists spent the day voting at the Edward D. Hansen Conference Center in downtown Everett and eight other locations in Washington, Oregon and California. The union’s 33,000 members, including 17,000 in Everett, were deciding on the latest contract reached between Boeing and union leaders on Saturday.

Jon Holden, president of IAM District 751 and Brandon Bryant, president of IAM District W24, issued a joint statement after the results were announced.

“Ten years of holding workers back unfortunately cannot be undone quickly or easily,” the statement read, “but we will continue to negotiate in good faith until we have made gains that workers feel adequately make up for what the company took from them in the past.”

It’s the first vote on a contract since members overwhelmingly rejected the company’s proposal and authorized a strike on Sept. 12.

Under the new proposal, workers would have seen a 35% general wage increase spread over four years, with 12% of the boost in the first year.

One by one, workers entered through the glass doors of the conference center located next to the Angel of the Winds Arena. Handwritten warnings taped to the doors warned against taking photos or bringing union signs inside.

While workers voted inside, Tony Dennis stood outside with a large sign of a Boeing 777 in flight. Like many other signs, it read “We get no pension, you will get no planes.”

Boeing shared a statement Tuesday reaffirming its stance on a pension for union members.

“There is no scenario where the company reactivates a defined-benefit pension for this or any other population,” the statement read. “They’re prohibitively expensive and that’s why virtually all private employers have transitioned away from them to defined-contribution plans.”

Wednesday’s rejection of the latest proposal came as Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg called for a “fundamental culture change” at the beleaguered aerospace giant and shared more details about the company’s dismal earnings report. For the three months ending in September, Boeing reported a $6.2 billion loss.

Almost a week after the strike began, Boeing instituted temporary furloughs for all U.S.-based Boeing executives, managers and employees. Earlier this month, the company announced it would cut its global workforce by 10% “over the coming months,” cease production of its 767 Freighter by 2027 and delay delivery of its 777X airplane until 2026. Both the 767 and 777X are built in Everett.

In remarks shared with employees before a call to investors, Ortberg said Boeing must stabilize its business and improve execution.

“It will take time to return Boeing to its former legacy but, with the right focus and culture, we can be an iconic company and aerospace leader once again,” the CEO said.

For Boeing Machinists Mike Maquiling and Joshua George, who have worked at the Everett plant for 14 years, Ortberg’s words are not good enough.

“He said he wanted to reset relations with the union membership,” George said, “and we’ve seen nothing that looks anything different than everything that’s been in the past.”

“I think you could look at the state that they’re in,” Maquiling said. “It correlates directly to how they’ve treated their employees.”

The company’s previous offer last month proposed a 30% increase over four years, The earlier proposal overwhelmingly rejected by workers included a general wage increase of 25% and a $3,000 ratification bonus.

That’s not good enough for workers like George, who say the company has reduced wages to workers by 40% in wages since 2008.

For now, workers like Dennis, Maquiling and others said they’ve been planning for this day for years.

“We’ve all been saving money for this,” Dennis said.

Maquiling agreed.

“I’ve been putting away money since they took my pension away,” he said, “knowing that this our chance to finally have some strength to show them that what they did wasn’t right.”

Michael Henneke: 425-339-3431; michael.henneke@heraldnet.com; X: @ihenpecked.