Boeing strike in St. Louis ends after union approves new contract

Boeing Defense workers on strike rally on Oct. 1 at the IAM Union Hall in Hazelwood (Rebecca Rivas/Missouri Independent).

Union mechanics at Boeing Defense in the St. Louis area approved a new contract Thursday, ending a three-month strike. 

About 3,200 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted to approve Boeing’s latest offer by a 68% margin, after rejecting the company’s previous four offers.

Boeing leaders said they “look forward to having the full team back at work” beginning on Sunday.

The approved offer includes a $6,000 signing bonus, instead of the original $5,000 offered in August. However, Boeing extended the contract’s term from four to five years, with a 24% general wage increase – 8% in the first year and 4% in each of the following years. 

What didn’t make it into the contract for union workers was their demanded $10,000 ratification bonus, 401-K benefit match and a higher wage increase for longtime employees.

“IAM District 837 members stood strong and united for over three months,” according to a union statement after the vote. “We thank our bargaining committee for their tireless efforts, and we appreciate the unwavering support of our members, their families, the St. Louis community, our labor allies, and elected officials throughout this fight.” 

Steve Parker, executive vice president of The Boeing Company and president and CEO of Boeing Defense, Space & Security, wrote a letter to employees earlier this week saying the strike “has been stressful for everyone.”

“With the holidays approaching,” he wrote, “we want to get everyone back to work and provide stability for you and your families with higher wages, health care and guaranteed holiday pay.”

The company heard from many employees that they’d like more cash up front, Parker said, rather than Boeing stock. 

“We’ve taken all of that to heart with a revised offer that incorporates your feedback while continuing to stay within the economic value of our prior offers,” he said.

Parker said the company has already hired permanent replacement workers “as we moved into the next phase of our contingency plan.”

“Despite that, we will guarantee that all IAM 837 members will be returned to work if this offer is ratified,” he said. “No one would be displaced. This is not something we will be able to guarantee moving forward.” 

Boeing’s decision to use replacement workers to complete fighter jet projects in St. Louis put the company at odds with members of the U.S. Senate. 

Earlier this month, five Democratic senators pilloried the plan for replacement workers as potentially putting the nation’s military at risk. 

“For existing projects, such as the F-15 Eagle and the F/A-18 Hornet, you are also unnecessarily endangering our warfighters by insisting on proceeding with an untrained and hastily recruited workforce,”  said the letter the senators sent Tuesday to Boeing President and CEO Kelly Ortberg.

Republican U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri sent his own letter to Ortberg demanding the company negotiate in good faith with striking workers. 

“These workers help produce our nation’s most crucial, most advanced, and most expensive defense tools,” Hawley wrote. “And since your company receives billions in government contracts, it is incumbent upon you to do the right thing.”

Parker, in his letter, boasted that the offer includes wage growth for longtime employees and more vacation and sick leave for all employees. The average base pay will go from $75,000 to $109,000 a year. And, there’s “potential for even more value with overtime,” he wrote.

The union vowed to continue to fight for “fairness and respect for the world’s best defense workers” in future negotiations.

“We’re proud of what our members have fought for together,” according to the union’s Thursday statement, “and are ready to get back to building the world’s most advanced military aircraft.”