Washington
Strike to continue as Boeing machinists reject a second contract offer • Washington State Standard
Thousands of Boeing aircraft machinists have rejected a contract offer for the second time in less than two months, meaning a strike that has halted airplane production at the company’s factories around the Puget Sound region for nearly six weeks will go on.
When votes were tallied Wednesday night, 64% of members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers sided against the proposal. While the contract included wage increases that the union said were in line with what workers were looking for, it did not include pension benefits the machinists have sought to restore.
“We have made tremendous gains with this agreement in many of the areas our members said were important to them, however, we have not achieved enough to meet our members’ demands,” IAM District 751 President Jon Holden said just before announcing the vote result at a Seattle union hall. Union members who were there cheered at the outcome.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers represents about 33,000 Boeing employees who are on strike in Washington, Oregon, and California. Workers last month voted down an offer negotiated by union leaders and the company before they walked off the job and onto picket lines on Sept. 13. The earlier contract proposal was rejected by 94.6% of voting members.
Machinists voted down the latest offer on the same day the company posted financial results showing a quarterly loss of $6.17 billion.
Boeing said it did not have any comment on the voting results.
The package that the workers rejected included a 35% general wage increase spread over four years, with 12% of the boost in the first year. It also called for an incentive pay program to be reinstated, with a guaranteed minimum annual payout of 4%, and for workers to receive a one-time contract ratification bonus of $7,000.
Union officials said that with compounding wage increases over the life of the contract, the rise in pay was in line with the 40% hike workers were seeking.
The company also offered to match 100% of the first 8% of pay an employee puts toward their 401(k) retirement account, along with an automatic 4% company contribution. And the proposed contract included a one-time $5,000 contribution to workers’ 401(k) accounts.
But the machinists have pressed for restoration of a defined-benefit pension plan.
“Bring the pension back,” Jim Thul, an inspector at Boeing for 35 years, said Wednesday outside the Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, where hundreds of machinists were casting votes on the contract.
“You got a lot of people that hired into Boeing and took pay cuts coming from different jobs just because it was one of the last companies that had a pension,” Thul said. “And when they took the pension away, they’re no longer getting those people that want a secure job and a pension.”
Boeing hasn’t shown any signs during negotiations that it is willing to bring back the pension program.
Holden acknowledged as much. “They haven’t budged on that throughout,” he said. “It still remains a hot issue, and we’ll have to work through that.”
“If they’re not willing to give it,” he said, “we’ve got to get something that replaces it, and we haven’t gone that far, right? And so it does come down to wages. It does come down to the 401(k) plan.” He also mentioned the possibility “other defined benefit options” could be explored.
Boeing is in a difficult position. Problems with flight control systems on its 737 Max airplanes led to crashes in 2018 and 2019 that killed 346 people, exposing gaps in the company’s safety culture and resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. Then, in January, an Alaska Airlines 737-9 flight was forced to make an emergency landing after a door plug blew out of the plane.
The company has piled up debt – $57.7 billion as of Sept. 30 – and said earlier this month that it planned to cut about 17,000 employees company-wide as part of efforts to rein in costs. It also indicated in recent regulatory filings that it may seek to raise up to $25 billion with stock or debt.
S&P Global estimated in early October that the work stoppage is costing the company more than $1 billion per month, even after considering cost-saving measures taken in response.
Asked if he had concerns Boeing would look at manufacturing options outside the Northwest the longer the strike continued, Holden replied: “It’s a concern I always have, have had for a long time.”
“I do know that there isn’t production that matches what our members can do. The infrastructure that is here and developed over 100 years,” he added. “But I’m going to focus on trying to get the offer that our members deserve. That’s what I’m going to do.”
Freelance reporter Ryan Berry contributed to this story.
Charging documents reveal the U.S. Park Police officer who was shot Monday in Southeast D.C. had arrested one of the suspects the day before and was following that suspect at the time.
The suspects are brothers, 22-year-old Asheile Foster and 21-year-old Darren Foster, of Southeast. They appeared in federal court Wednesday afternoon.
Court documents state the Park Police officer who was shot had arrested Asheile Foster on Sunday on suspicion of dealing drugs. The officer said he followed Foster after he was released from jail on Monday and came to Park Police headquarters to get his personal belongings.
According to prosecutors, Foster told police he knew he was being followed by a white Tesla, and he confronted the officer on Queens Stroll Place SE, jumping out in front of the Tesla before the officer swerved around him.
Then, dozens of gunshots went off, the officer told police. He said in charging documents he was shot in the shoulder as he kept driving several blocks to the intersection of Benning Road and Southern Avenue SE, where police found him. A helicopter then took him to a hospital. According to charging documents, the officer was treated and released the same night as the shooting.
A U.S. Park Police officer who was shot in Southeast D.C. on Monday is recovering from what authorities say was likely a targeted attack. Multiple law enforcement sources tell News4’s Mark Segraves that when the officer was shot, he was investigating a shooting that occurred in Anacostia Park on Friday.
Photos in the charging documents show the brothers firing at the officer’s Tesla, according to prosecutors.
The shooting drew a massive police presence to the Southeast neighborhood near the D.C-Maryland border Monday night.
Shell casings littered the middle of the street. Police said they recovered two weapons: a Glock 9 with an extended magazine and an AR-15.
Prosecutors said that when the officer was shot, he was investigating a shooting that occurred in Anacostia Park on Friday. No one was injured in that shooting.
Darren Foster was located and stopped shortly after the shooting, D.C. police said. Asheile Foster was found on Tuesday.
The brothers were charged with assault on a federal officer, assault with intent to kill and weapons charges. They could face up to 60 years in prison if they’re convicted.
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Washington just became the latest state to regulate artificial intelligence.
Under a pair of bills signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson Tuesday, companies like OpenAI and Anthropic will have to include new disclosures in their popular chatbots for Washington users.
Ferguson asked legislators to craft House Bill 1170 to crack down on AI-generated misinformation. When content is substantially modified using generative AI, that information will now have to be traceable using watermarks or metadata. The new law applies to large AI companies more than 1 million monthly subscribers.
“ I’m confident I’m not the only Washingtonian who often sees something on my phone and wondering to myself, ‘Is that AI or is it real?’ And I feel like I’m a reasonably discerning person,” Ferguson said during the bill signing. “It is virtually impossible these days.”
RELATED: WA Gov. Bob Ferguson calls for regulations on AI chatbot companions
House Bill 2225 establishes new guard rails for AI chatbots that act like friends or companions. It applies to services like ChatGPT and Claude, but excludes more narrowly tailored chatbots, like the customer service windows that pop up when visiting a corporate website.
Chatbots that fit the bill will have to disclose to users that they are not human at the start of every conversation, and every three hours in an ongoing chat. The tools will also be barred from pretending to be human in conversation with users.
The rules go further if the user is a minor. Companies that operate chatbots will have to disclose that the tools are not human every hour, rather than every three hours, if the user is under 18. The bill forbids AI companions from having sexually explicit conversations with underage users. It also bans “manipulative engagement techniques.” For example, a chatbot is not allowed to guilt or pressure a minor into staying in a conversation or keeping information from parents.
“AI has incredible potential to transform society,” Ferguson said. “At the same time, of course, there are risks that we must mitigate as a state, especially to young people. So I speak partly as a governor, but also as the father of teenage twins who grapple with this as a lot of parents do every single day.”
Under the law, AI chatbots will not be allowed to encourage or provide information on suicide or self-harm, including eating disorders. The companies behind these tools will be required to come up with a protocol for flagging conversations that reference self-harm and connecting users with mental health services.
The regulations come in the wake of several high-profile instances of teenage suicide following prolonged interactions with AI companions that showed warning signs. Many more AI users of all ages have reported mental health issues and psychosis after heavy use of the technology.
Washington Wizards (16-55, 14th in the Eastern Conference) vs. Utah Jazz (21-51, 14th in the Western Conference)
Salt Lake City; Wednesday, 9 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: Washington heads into the matchup with Utah after losing 16 in a row.
The Jazz have gone 13-24 in home games. Utah ranks second in the Western Conference with 16.6 fast break points per game led by Lauri Markkanen averaging 3.3.
The Wizards are 5-29 in road games. Washington is 9-10 when it has fewer turnovers than its opponents and averages 15.3 turnovers per game.
The Jazz score 117.4 points per game, 6.7 fewer points than the 124.1 the Wizards give up. The Wizards’ 46.1% shooting percentage from the field this season is 2.9 percentage points lower than the Jazz have allowed to their opponents (49.0%).
The teams square off for the second time this season. The Jazz won the last meeting 122-112 on March 6, with Ace Bailey scoring 32 points in the victory.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kyle Filipowski is averaging 10.5 points and 6.9 rebounds for the Jazz. Brice Sensabaugh is averaging 19.9 points over the last 10 games.
Alex Sarr is averaging 16.5 points, 7.4 rebounds and two blocks for the Wizards. Will Riley is averaging 14.4 points over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Jazz: 3-7, averaging 116.4 points, 43.3 rebounds, 27.7 assists, 9.9 steals and 4.4 blocks per game while shooting 45.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 122.7 points per game.
Wizards: 0-10, averaging 114.3 points, 37.4 rebounds, 24.5 assists, 6.9 steals and 4.5 blocks per game while shooting 47.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 130.6 points.
INJURIES: Jazz: Lauri Markkanen: out (hip), Isaiah Collier: out (hamstring), Keyonte George: out (leg), Cody Williams: out (shoulder), Walker Kessler: out for season (shoulder), Jusuf Nurkic: out for season (nose), Jaren Jackson Jr.: out for season (knee).
Wizards: Anthony Davis: out (finger), Tristan Vukcevic: day to day (back), Cam Whitmore: out for season (shoulder), Alex Sarr: day to day (toe), Tre Johnson: day to day (foot), Kyshawn George: out (elbow), D’Angelo Russell: out (not injury related), Trae Young: out (quad).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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