Boeing and union for 3,200 striking workers reach new proposed deal
- The San Juan Daily Star
- 9 hours ago
- 2 min read
By NIRAJ CHOKSHI
Boeing and a union that represents about 3,200 employees who build military aircraft and equipment in the St. Louis area on Wednesday reached a deal on a proposed contract that could end a five-week strike.
The workers walked off the job Aug. 4 after rejecting an earlier deal between the company and the union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837.
The union said its new five-year contract proposal included improved raises and the restoration of a signing bonus. Officials did not publicly share many details, but said that members would soon receive more information.
Workers will vote on the contract Friday morning. A previous deal that was rejected by the union’s members included improvements to medical benefits, pensions, overtime and work-life balance. It also would have raised wages by 40%, on average, over four years.
Boeing said that the new deal would raise wages 45%, on average.
“It remains the best deal we’ve ever offered to IAM 837, and we encourage our team to vote yes so we can get back to work building amazing products for our customers,” Dan Gillian, a Boeing vice president, said in a statement.
News of the agreement comes as tensions between the workers and the company have been escalating. Boeing said last week that it was preparing to hire permanent replacements for some of the strikers.
The St. Louis plants are open and workers who are not on strike continue to build, test and deliver some products, Boeing said. The company’s defense unit brought in about $23 billion in revenue last year, more than a third of the company’s total sales.
The strike is the first at the St. Louis plants since 1996, when workers walked off the job for 99 days. About 33,000 Boeing workers who mostly build commercial planes in the Seattle area went on strike for nearly two months last year before reaching a deal and returning to work.