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.
Donald Trump’s plans to build a skyline-altering arch in the nation’s capital won initial approval Thursday from a key federal commission, but its members put off a decision on whether a federal law that limits building heights should be applied to this project.
Despite overwhelming public opposition, the National Capital Planning Commission voted to approve preliminary site and building plans for the 250ft (76m) arch the Republican president wants to build on a traffic circle at the Virginia end of the Memorial Bridge from Washington.
The project, one of several being pursued by Trump in his quest to reshape parts of the nation’s capital to his liking, moved a step closer to reality with the vote.
Staff had recommended in its report on the project that the commission grant such approval and request a series of changes so the arch would comply with the Height of Buildings Act. The suggested changes included redistributing the heights among the main structure of the arch, the habitable roof, where an observation deck is planned, and the statues that would top it.
But commissioners, led by chair Will Scharf, voted to continue deliberations on whether the law indeed applies.
The staff report said the commission has long applied the law in its approval process. Scharf said the applicant, which is the interior department, had, as requested, provided a legal analysis that he said makes a “compelling argument” that the law “is not binding on the federal government”.
The interior department oversees the federal land where the arch would be built.
Eight of the 12 commissioners, including Scharf and two others appointed by Trump, voted for preliminary approval. One was against, and the remaining three commissioners voted present.
“This is a complex project,” Scharf said before the vote. He said a vote on final approval could come at the agency’s next meeting, in September.
All 12 commissioners listened to a summary of the staff report and its recommendations, and heard from several dozen people who had signed up to testify about the project.
As the commissioners met, construction continued at the White House on a $400m ballroom Trump is building there and crews draped tarps over the stone columns at the north entrance to the mansion, where work is being done to scrape off layers of paint.
Some of those who testified against Trump’s project opposed building a celebratory arch so close to Arlington national cemetery. Others suggested it would be more appropriate for a neighborhood near the Capitol and sporting venues.
Opponents say the arch is too big and would disrupt the carefully designed view between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington national cemetery that was meant to symbolize the reunification of the north and the south after the civil war.
The arch would be more than twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial, which is 99ft (30m) tall, and close to half the height of the Washington Monument, at about 555ft (169m) tall.
Concerns about vehicular traffic and pedestrian safety also were expressed on Thursday. Others insisted that Congress must approve the arch – a position Trump disagrees with.
The US Commission of Fine Arts, a separate federal agency, approved the design for the arch in May. The National Capital Planning Commission oversees construction on federal land in the city and began reviewing the arch plan in June.
Trump had said last year that the arch could be paid for with unused funds from the hundreds of millions of dollars he said he has raised from corporations, donors and other wealthy people to pay to build a new $400m ballroom at the White House.
But, as it turns out, some public money will be used for the ballroom project, as well as the arch. The White House has not released a cost estimate for the arch.
The Washington Commanders are retiring John Riggins’ No. 44 during the upcoming NFL season, the team announced Thursday.
The Hall of Fame running back will be honored in a ceremony at halftime of the team’s game against the Los Angeles Rams on Nov. 8.
“There are certain players whose impact goes far beyond statistics, championships and accolades: They become woven into the identity of a franchise,” controlling owner Josh Harris said in a statement. “John Riggins is one of those players. …Our fans not only admired him, they identified with him. He is authentic, unapologetically himself and deeply connected to the people around him. John has meant so much to this franchise, our fans and the game of football.”
Riggins is the organization’s all-time leading rusher with 7,472 yards and 79 touchdowns on 1,988 carries and helped the team win the Super Bowl in the 1982 season.
The fan favorite nicknamed “Riggo” was the MVP of that Super Bowl for his performance best known for his memorable 43-yard TD run in the fourth quarter that put Washington ahead of the Miami Dolphins. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.
Riggins is the seventh player to have his number retired by the team, joining Sammy Baugh, Bobby Mitchell, Sean Taylor, Sonny Jurgensen, Darrell Green and Art Monk. Green, Monk and Riggins have all happened since Harris’ group took over from longtime owner Dan Snyder.
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