Machinists Union Makes New Demands After Rejecting Pay Increases, Bonuses

The path toward restarting work at a St. Louis facility that supplies jets for the U.S. military faces a new roadblock after the labor union rejected yet another contract offer.

Last month, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District 837 labor union rejected a contract offer from the Boeing Company and began a strike at the St. Louis facility, bringing production of key military technologies to a halt. That offer, which was the second offer made by the company, would have provided employees with general wage increases of 20 percent over four years and a $5,000 lump-sum ratification bonus, in addition to other concessions such as increases to vacation and sick leave.

The offer rejected last month represented an average wage growth of 40 percent, according to the company. After nearly six weeks of IAM preventing its members from working, last week the union rejected yet another proposal from Boeing which increased the offering to 45 percent average wage growth for its employees.

The proposal rejected by the union last week would have increased average wages from $75,000 per year to $109,000 per year, more than 60 percent higher than the average American earns. Less than half of private-sector workers in the United States have access to any kind of bonus, and those bonuses average 2.8 percent of the employee’s annual pay, far less than what the company had offered.

However, these significant concessions were not enough for IAM. As a result of the union’s latest rejection, the work stoppage continues today––causing harm to those on both sides of the talks.

The union bosses themselves have acknowledged the “growing backlog of military aircraft orders” and “millions of dollars each day in lost output and delayed deliveries” due to their prolonging of the strike, jeopardizing both U.S. national security and the local economy. Meanwhile, in a message to workers on Tuesday, Dan Gillian, Boeing’s Vice President of Air Dominance in St. Louis, expressed his disappointment that “[t]he union’s approach… will only prolong the strike for all of you who’ve already lost an average of $15,000 in income.”

In an atypical move, IAM now plans to hold a vote this week on a unilateral contract proposal that the union bosses have drafted without Boeing’s input. In addition to the multitude of concessions already made by Boeing in previous offers, the union’s new proposal demands sizable increases to 401(k) benefits, additional pay increases, and massive $10,000 bonuses.

For his part, Gillian described the proposal as a “publicity stunt” that creates “false expectations” in a statement obtained by local media:

“This publicity stunt is a waste of time that will not help the parties reach a deal. The union continues to create false expectations by voting on an offer we never made, including terms we’ve expressly told them we won’t accept. Our main objective is to return our 3,200 teammates to work within the economic framework of the deal the union has twice endorsed. They are choosing an approach that will prolong the strike for our teammates who have already lost an average of $15,000 in income.”

The IAM will hold a vote on their proposal Friday morning. If the two sides do not agree to the union bosses’ new demands, IAM’s plan is to “continue to remain on strike,” according to a statement.