Machinists bargain for Boeing’s future

As a September 12 strike date looms, 33,000 Machinists fight to save Boeing from itself

By SARAH TUCKER

SEATTLE, WA (August 30, 2024) – In a windowless conference room in a downtown Seattle hotel, the future of the aerospace industry is being decided. 33,000 Machinists are bargaining with Boeing to secure a strong contract with the wages, benefits, job security, and safety measures needed to ensure safe, reliable production at one of only two major airplane manufacturers world-wide.

At issue: will Boeing listen to the workers who built its reputation and made the company the juggernaut it is today? Or will the company continue the profit-over-people practices it’s embraced as its once-sterling reputation takes hit after hit? 

Machinists at the Boeing facilities in the Puget Sound are rallying at their job sites as the September 12 strike approaches. Photo: IAM 751

Negotiations began in the spring, moving to round the clock, hotel bargaining sessions on August 12. With a September 12 strike date looming, the Machinists report that Boeing and the union remain far apart on economic issues, including compensation, healthcare, and retirement. 

For the workers, a major sticking point is the concessions Boeing has forced in past contracts. This is the first time in 16 years that the full contract is open for bargaining, and the workers are hungry to gain back benefits lost in piecemeal agreements. 

“There are some members who will not accept the contract without a defined benefit pension,” said Machinists 751 President Jon Holden. “It’s still on the table for us.”

Beyond pensions, Boeing has shifted healthcare costs increasingly to the workers in past years; as negotiations currently stand, the company is looking to continue that trend. 

“We’re not going to accept any concessions on health care, “ said Holden. “We have to make some improvements, and we’ve got a pathway there to make improvements. Boeing just has to follow us on that path.”

Like many working people, wages are front of mind for the Machinists who’ve been stuck at the same pay since 2016. 

Photo: IAM 751

“We’ve been stagnated for the last eight years,” said Holden. “We’ve had massive inflation that we haven’t seen in over 40 years. So we have to make some mass improvements on wages, both new hire rates and in max out pay as well.”

And the union is committed to ensuring Boeing keeps the jobs that would pay those wages here in the PNW long-term. Boeing has a history of promising job security and reneging. In the past 15 years, Boeing has threatened to pull production of the 787, 737 Max, and the 777X to force contract extensions, take away workers’ pensions, put healthcare costs on the workers, and stagnate wages. 

In 2003, when Boeing threatened to pull 787 production out of Washington, the state granted Boeing billions in tax incentives to keep the program here. In 2021, Boeing moved 787 production to South Carolina anyway. 

As the union points out, this dishonesty hurts the workers – but it’s a slap in the face to all Washingtonians. 

“Washington State has bent backward to support Boeing, pouring billions into incentives and infrastructure, ensuring the company has everything it needs to succeed,” said the union in a statement posted on social media. 

Boeing’s past threats are fresh in the minds of Machinists. But this bargain is taking place against the backdrop of five years of intense scrutiny of Boeing’s business practices following two deadly 737 Max 8 crashes in 2019, with public criticisms freshly renewed after a door plug blew out of a Boeing 737 Max 9 mid-flight in January. The company is facing intense scrutiny from the US Department of Justice and the Federal Aviation Authority, along with a global PR crisis. Combined with pandemic supply chain issues and the churn and burn mentality of the C-suite that seeks to maximize profits and bonuses rather than retain and attract workers with competitive compensation, production is strained. 

Photo: IAM 751

“The board of directors and the high up executives of the company, they play on a different playing field,” said Holden. “They extract profit and pay and retirement for themselves, and they do it at the cost of everyone else. They do it at the cost of the supply chain. They squeeze the life out of the supply chain, they squeeze the life out of their workforce. They start to undermine their own manufacturing processes and procedures in order to increase production rates.”  

The union sees Boeing’s attempts to increase production through placing immense pressure on its workers as well as the workers that power the supply chain as inherently dangerous – and limited. As Holden says, “There’s a right way to do it and there’s a wrong way to do it. And unfortunately they’ve chosen the wrong way.” 

While Boeing has been able to threaten job loss in previous negotiations, the company desperately needs the highly trained, experienced Machinists in the PNW on the shop floor to avoid falling farther behind on orders. 

And in this negotiation, the Machinists find themselves in a rare position. Wages, benefits, and job security are standard fare for contract bargains. But this is the first time the union has ever bargained safety practices with the company. 

Per Holden: “This is the first time that we felt it was necessary.” 

Prior to the 737 Max 8 crashes, the union had no relationship with the FAA beyond routine inspections. Machinists have been sounding the alarm about safety at Boeing for years; in 2019, they were able to start building a relationship with the FAA, and created avenues for workers to share their concerns. This direct relationship between workers and regulator is a positive step for safety, and one the union is committed to fostering.

Machinists packed T-Mobile stadium for a strike authorization vote in July. Photo: IAM 751

Should the workers secure the contract they’re fighting for, a great unknown remains. Boeing’s long history of promising one thing then doing another has broken trust. Even if the Machinists can compel Boeing to agree to terms, how does the union ensure the company doesn’t go back on its word again? 

“That’s the big question,” said Holden. “It can’t just be a verbal ‘trust us.’ It has to be something we can see and enforce.”

With the public firmly supportive of unions and at least somewhat distrustful of Boeing, power is in the hands of the Machinists. They know that this is their moment to secure a contract that can retain and recruit highly skilled workers, safely scale production, and ensure safety for both the workers and the flying public. 

And the workers are ready to use that power. In July, Machinists voted to authorize a strike by 99.7% – and the workers aren’t messing around. As the strike date approaches, a common refrain is gaining steam on the shop floor: Out the Door in ‘24.  

Picket trainings are running in Everett and Seattle as the strike date nears. Machinists, burned before, are refusing to back down. 

“This fight is for our current members, and it’s for those that follow behind,” said Holden. “It’s for the engineers, it’s for the salaried, non-represented workers, it’s for the supply chain here in Washington state. We are fighting for everyone.”