Boeing faces strike threat as workers vote on new contract

Boeing workers are voting on a new labor contract on Thursday, setting up the potential for a crippling strike if staff members decide to reject the deal just as the plane-maker is trying to ramp up its production.

The tentative agreement that the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the company unveiled on Sunday included 25% wage increases and other improvements to health-care and retirement benefits. Boeing also committed to build its next aircraft in the Seattle area.

The vote is the first major test for CEO Kelly Ortberg, who said in a staff note on Wednesday that he has talked with employees about the contract in Renton, Washington, and Everett, Washington, where Boeing’s main factories are located.

Ortberg is just over one month into his role in the manufacturer’s top job, and has been tasked with steadying production and stamping out safety lapses and quality flaws in the wake of a door-panel blowout at the start of the year.

“I know the reaction to our tentative agreement with the IAM has been passionate,” he wrote in his staff note. “I understand and respect that passion, but I ask you not to sacrifice the opportunity to secure our future together, because of the frustrations of the past.”

The union, which represents about 33,000 Boeing factory workers in the Seattle area and in Oregon had sought some 40% pay raises from Boeing. But the 25% increase would be in line with the United Auto Workers’ deal last year that followed strikes at Ford, General Motors and Chrysler-parent Stellantis.

If approved, the Boeing deal would follow a series of union-negotiated pay increases across industries ranging from Hollywood to airlines.

“We have achieved everything we could in bargaining, short of a strike,” IAM District 751 district president Jon Holden wrote to members on Monday. “We recommended acceptance because we can’t guarantee we can achieve more in a strike. But that is your decision to make and is a decision that we will protect and support, no matter what.”

Top pay for IAM workers at Boeing would rise to $57.43 an hour as soon as the new contract goes into effect. Including some cost-of-living adjustments, increases could rise by more than 42%, according to the union. Boeing said average annual machinist pay is currently $75,608, which would rise to $106,350 at the end of the four-year contract.

If the deal is rejected and two-thirds of workers vote in favor of a strike, a work stoppage would begin after midnight in Washington on Friday. If less than two-thirds vote to strike after the contract is rejected, the contract would automatically go into effect, the union said.

“For Boeing, it is no secret that our business is in a difficult period, in part due to our own mistakes in the past,” Ortberg said in his note. “Working together, I know that we can get back on track, but a strike would put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers and hurting our ability to determine our future together.”

Polls are set to close at 6 p.m. PT.