Boeing gives workers' union additional time to vote on latest offer

By Julie Johnsson

Boeing Co. backed down from a Friday night deadline for striking workers to approve its latest contract offer after union leaders refused to schedule a vote.

The planemaker infuriated labor officials by taking its proposal to hike wages by 30% directly to workers on Monday, bypassing traditional negotiating sessions. The sparring has injected new tension into the talks at a time when the cash-strapped planemaker can’t afford a long, drawn-out strike. 

Boeing’s tactics have also puzzled some long-time observers of the planemaker’s labor relations. 

“It doesn’t make any sense,” Leon Grunberg, an academic who’s tracked Boeing labor relations for a quarter-century. “I don’t know if it’s a misstep from the CEO or people further down.”

The surprise pitch came days after mediated talks stalled with negotiators for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, which represents 33,000 striking hourly workers at Boeing’s commercial airplane hub in the Pacific Northwest.

Boeing on Monday said it has bargained in good faith with the union since talks began in March, that its offer made “significant improvements and addresses feedback from the union and our employees.” 

Grunberg, who co-authored “Emerging from Turbulence: Boeing and Stories of the American Workplace Today,” said he understood the company’s urgency to end the 12-day-old strike. But he questioned why management was risking years of ill will by circumventing local labor leaders, who have the power to recommend a contract and call a vote.

“It sounds like they’re willing to deal,” he said. “It’s not like they’re saying ‘no way.’ But the procedures they’ve followed seem misguided.”

Boeing on Tuesday said that it had offered the union more time and “logistical support” for a vote. It removed the Sept. 27 deadline, without imposing any new time frame for acceptance of the offer. 

“This strike is affecting our team and our communities, and we believe our employees should have the opportunity to vote on our offer that makes significant improvements in wages and benefits,” Boeing said in an emailed statement.

Union officials have said they wouldn’t schedule a vote on the company’s latest proposal, describing it as unrealistic and disrespectful in a fiery statement posted late Monday. They accused Boeing of negotiating through the media instead of collective bargaining to end an impasse that’s halted manufacturing of its 737 Max and other jetliners.

IAM District 751 President Jon Holden said in an interview late Monday that the offer was a non-starter.

“They made movement, important movement on wages, but our members have higher expectations,” Holden said. “I think it makes it harder to get a deal if they’re going to attempt to go around our members’ elected bargaining committee.”

In addition to a proposed 30% pay hike over four years, the company proposed reinstating an annual bonus, doubling to $6,000 the payout that workers would get if the deal is passed and increasing its contribution to a 401K plan.

For Boeing, resolving the strike swiftly is critical to avoid further damage to its already strained finances. The company is burning through cash each day that its jetliner factories near Seattle remain idle, and is in danger of losing its investment grade credit ratings. 

The planemaker’s shares were little changed in after-hours trading on Tuesday. The stock has declined about 40% this year, the second-worst performance in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.