Several hundred Boeing workers cheered Friday afternoon at the St. Louis Music Park in Maryland Heights after learning union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a new contract offered by the company.
“It was jubilant for a minute,” said Boeing assembly mechanic Christy Williams, “and now we’re heading back to the strike line.”
About 3,200 Boeing workers who assemble advanced aircraft and weapons systems at the company’s facilities in St. Louis, St. Charles and Mascoutah, Ill. have been on strike since Aug. 4.
Union members of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837 voted Friday to reject Boeing’s modified five-year contract offer, choosing to remain on strike.
“Our members in St. Louis have once again shown that they will not settle for Boeing’s half-measures,” said IAM International President Brian Bryant in a prepared statement issued Friday. “Boeing must start listening to its employees and come back to the table with a meaningful offer that respects the sacrifices and skill of these workers.”
According to the union statement, Boeing’s modified offer didn’t include a sufficient signing bonus relative to what other Boeing workers have received or a raise in 401(k) benefits.
Williams said the new offer wasn’t much different than the previous rejected offers and called it “insulting.”
“We need to be compensated,” Williams said. “They don’t think we’re intelligent enough to understand contractual agreements, but we’re good enough to build the best fighter jet in the world. It’s crazy to me.”
She said it didn’t address one of the most important issues of compensating longtime workers. It mostly benefits newer workers, she said, like Williams and her son who joined the company a few years ago.
“This contract works for me and my son,” she said, “but it doesn’t work for the people at the top of the scale. And if the people at top of scale don’t continue to go up a little bit, especially based on economics and economy and cost of living, then it’s eventually going to cut all of us off who are at lower scale.”
In a statement after the vote, Boeing said it was “disappointed” employees rejected what its touts as offering 45% average wage growth.
“We’ve made clear the overall economic framework of our offer will not change, but we have consistently adjusted the offer based on employee and union feedback to better address their concerns,” the company said. “In the meantime, no further talks are scheduled. We will continue to execute our contingency plan, including hiring permanent replacement workers, as we maintain support for our customers.”
Williams said members aren’t too worried about the company’s threat to hire permanent replacements because there’s no one there to train them.
According to the union statement, the workers assemble and maintain things like the F-15 fighter jet, F/A-18, and cutting-edge missile and defense technologies, adding that their work “plays a vital role in safeguarding national security and supporting U.S. and allied defense operations.”
“The message could not be clearer—our members expect Boeing to do better,” said IAM Midwest Territory General Vice President Sam Cicinelli. “They will not be brushed aside with small adjustments. Boeing needs to stop dragging its feet and negotiate an agreement that honors the contributions of its workforce.”
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