Boeing sweetens ‘best and final’ offer to striking machinists

Boeing on Monday made what it called its “best and final” offer to the union representing 33,000 striking workers, a deal that would include a 30% pay increase, the restoration of an annual bonus program and a $6,000 signing bonus if the contract is approved before midnight Friday.

The revised offer comes as the machinists strike, which began Sept. 13, enters its second week. The company has begun furloughing thousands of other employees in an effort to reduce expenses. It offers some improvement over the aerospace giant’s previous offer of a 25% increase, an increased 401(k) match and includes a commitment to keep production of Boeing’s next new aircraft in Washington state, but it falls short of the 40% wage increase the union is seeking. It also does not restore the pension program – a key demand of striking machinists.

Union leaders said they were reviewing the new offer.

“This news validates every step that hardworking Boeing employees have taken on the picket line thus far,” Brian Bryant, international president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said in a statement. “Employees knew Boeing executives could do better, and this shows the workers were right all along.”

The two sides resumed talks last week with the help of federal mediators. But after two days, there was no progress. Union officials blasted Boeing, saying its negotiators were “not prepared” and “unwilling” to address the pay and pension issues they viewed as essential to ending the standoff, while company officials continued to express an eagerness to end a walkout that some analysts say could cost the company $1 billion a week.

In a note to employees Friday, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said that ending the strike “is a top priority.”

Under the new proposal, the average annual pay for machinists would increase from $75,608 a year to $111,155 by the end of the four-year deal, the company said.

The strike, the first by the union in 16 years, halted production of some of Boeing’s best-selling jets, including the 737 Max and the 777 wide-body. IAM members play vital roles in building those jets.

In 2008, machinists walked off their jobs for 54 days. Analysts have predicted that the current strike could last from two weeks to nearly two months.