Boeing, striking workers still at standoff over contract

That proposal was “submitted to Boeing as a pre-ratified agreement, putting the responsibility squarely on the company to accept the deal and immediately end the strike,” the union said, adding that IAM District 837 members remained on strike.

A Boeing executive responded to the union’s announcement the same day, saying the deal the workers voted on “isn’t real.”

“It’s unfortunate that union leadership led some of you to vote on a deal today that isn’t real. Our previous offer is real and would make our team among the highest paid manufacturing employees in the St. Louis area,” Dan Gillian, Boeing Air Dominance vice president and general manager and senior St. Louis site executive, said in a statement.

About 3,200 workers have been on strike for seven weeks. Projects at the facility include the F-15EX, F/A-18, T-7A, MQ-25, and future F-47 fighter jet. Aluminum is a crucial component in defense and aerospace applications.

On Tuesday, Jody Bennett, IAM Union resident general vice president, fired back, saying the company’s dismissal of the union-ratified proposal “is both insulting and dishonest.”

“What’s not real is Boeing’s claim that it values its workforce while refusing to recognize the will of the very people who give their blood, sweat, and tears to produce the finest planes and other defense equipment that keep our nation and men and women in uniform safe.”

IAM Union officials said the union-ratified proposal aligns 401(k) contribution percentages with Boeing employees around the country, more fairly raises wages for top-of-scale members, and includes a compromise on the ratification bonus that approaches the level Boeing provided for IAM Union members in the Pacific Northwest and non-union workers in South Carolina.

In his statement, Gillian defended the company’s proposal, arguing a contract has to make sense “in the Midwest, not the Pacific Northwest.”

Gillian said the company’s deal is “far more lucrative than other recently ratified contracts for complex manufacturing work in our region. That includes a deal between GE Aerospace and the IAM in Cincinnati, where union members just ratified a five-year contract with general wage increases of 5%, 5%, 3%, 3% and 3.5%.”

Gillian said Boeing is offering a “45% average wage increase, free primary care, and more vacation and sick leave. That offer remains available to vote on, less the ratification bonus that was based on a Sept. 12 ratification.”

Overall, The IAM Union represents about 600,000 active and retired members across North America in aerospace, defense, airlines, shipbuilding, rail, transit, healthcare, automotive, and other industries.