On Nov. 4, Boeing machinists officially ended their seven week strike after voting to accept a new contract offer from the company. With the strike over, the company can immediately resume their inactive production lines throughout the Pacific Northwest.
According to Reuters, 59% of the 33,000 machinists voted to accept the contract, alleviating the company’s pressures after two previous offers were rejected.
The current average annual pay for workers is $75,608. But thanks to the new offer, these wages would rise to $119,309 in the next four years.
The highlight of the new contract presented by the Boeing corporation is a pay raise of 38% over four years, starting with a 13% bump the first year, nine percent increases in the second and third year and a seven percent boost in subsequent years. Pre-strike, the contractual offer for pay raises was at 25%, however, negotiators had been aiming to increase it to 40%.
Contractual bonuses were included in the contract. Productivity bonuses were reinstated, which were removed in the pre-strike contractual offer. Boeing workers are generally given a bonus for the calendar year, ranging from one to six percent of their wages. However, the new contract guarantees a bonus of at least four percent of their wages. Additionally, a ratification bonus — a payment given to workers when they approve a new contract — of $12,000 was included in the offer. Workers can choose to receive funds as a one-time donation into their Roth 401(k) — an employer-based retirement plan — or receive it as a cash bonus.
Pensions were another focal point for workers, rejecting previous offers in September and October after the company refused to restore them. The company previously used pensions up until 2014 but removed them in part of an agreement to produce a new variation of their 777 model. Although the new contract didn’t reinstate the pensions, company contributions to workers’ Roth 401(k) were ratified in the new contract. Boeing will contribute 100% of the first eight percent of employee pay to their 401(k), with the addition of a 4 percent company contribution.
As of Nov. 12, all Boeing workers have returned to work.
