After 53 days on strike, members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) District 751 voted on November 4 to approve Boeing’s third contract offer. The most important gain for workers was a significant wage increase, beginning with a 13% raise the first year and subsequent increases that bring the total to 38% over four years — compounding to roughly 43% over the life of the agreement. Boeing also agreed to bonus payments and increased company contributions to employee 401K plans.

The agreement does not restore the defined benefit pension plan that Boeing ended as part of the 2014 contract. The company reportedly refused to even discuss this with the union.

EDITORIAL

The new contract was approved by a vote of 59%. The aerospace giant threatened that if this contract was not approved, its next proposal would offer workers less. Two previous Boeing offers were resoundingly rejected by the union’s ranks; the first by 95% and the second by 64%.

The fact that over 40% of the union members voting did not favor the final agreement suggests that many workers believe more could have been won if the strike had continued. The company’s refusal to reinstate the pension, or even discuss it, was a source of anger for many workers.

By rejecting the first two Boeing offers by big majorities the union ranks put their stamp on the strike. Their militancy and determination achieved the gains that were won. However, in the course of the walkout no alternative leadership appeared that could have offered a perspective for how to strengthen the strike in order to meet more of the workers’ demands.

An effort to reinstate the pension plan would have required a more challenging battle. Defined benefit pension plans for workers have been under attack by the employers for decades. Many workers have never been covered by such a plan.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics, as of March 2023 only 15% of private industry employees were covered by such plans. This figure includes managers and other salaried employees as well as hourly workers.

A fight to compel Boeing to agree to a new pension plan would have required an appeal to the entire labor movement for active solidarity. The IAM would have needed to explain that winning back the pension at Boeing could have been a step forward for all workers, one that could have aided future battles by others.

In recommending that the strikers approve the final Boeing offer, IAM District 751 President Jon Holden made a remarkable admission. He reported that in September Boeing told him it would only allow its first contract offer to be put to a membership vote if the union officials recommended a vote in favor of the agreement. Holden went along with the company’s blackmail and did not inform the membership. The union ranks rejected his recommendation almost unanimously.

Holden’s choice revealed that the union officials, like Boeing’s owners and management, completely misestimated the mood in the ranks. Anger had been building among the rank-and-file since at least the 2014 agreement that many workers felt they were coerced into accepting. (For more information on that history see Angry Workers Begin Strike at Boeing.)

A union leadership with more confidence in the ranks, and in its own ability to lead a strike, would have immediately reported Boeing’s latest coercive threat to the union membership when it was first made. It could have refused the company’s demand to recommend a contract that was clearly far less than the ranks expected and deserved. That would have shown the same fighting spirit that was exhibited by the ranks and would have strengthened the union.

In this battle, IAM members at Boeing won what their union was strong enough to take at this time. Like other workers, they still face the challenge of how to strengthen their union and make it a more effective tool for standing up to the profit drive of their wealthy employer. That’s what’s needed to win a better contract in the future.

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