Boeing machinists approve contract, end strike

Boeing union machinists line up to vote on contract offer

The new contract will raise machinists' average annual pay to $119,309, from $75,608

(Image credit: Jason Redmond / AFP via Getty Images)

What happened

Boeing's largest union approved the company's latest contract offer Monday night, ending a punishing seven-week strike. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said 59% of the more than 26,000 of its voting members approved Boeing's fourth offer, which includes a 38% raise over four years plus a $12,000 signing bonus and other benefits.

Who said what

The new contract will raise machinists' average annual pay to $119,309, from $75,608, including benefits but not overtime, Boeing said. The company originally offered a 25% raise. Union members had also held out for a return of the pensions they gave up under pressure in 2014, but Boeing wouldn't budge.

"You stood strong, you stood tall and you won," local IAM president John Holden said in Seattle. "This is a victory." Union leadership had urged members to approve this latest offer, saying they had wrung out all the concessions the struggling company was likely to offer. The strike cost Boeing and its suppliers billions of dollars.

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What next?

IAM leaders said workers will return to Pacific Northwest assembly plants as soon as Wednesday and no later than Nov. 12, though it was expected to take weeks for production to hit pre-strike levels. Boeing is "under pressure from jet-starved airlines to ramp up deliveries," The Wall Street Journal said, and under scrutiny from federal regulators to prove it has fixed quality control issues.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.