Boeing Tentative Pact with Everett Machinists Averts Strike Threat

EVERETT, Wash. -- Boeing and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 reached a tentative contract agreement Sunday, averting a potential strike by 33,000 production workers at key facilities in Everett and Renton. The deal, announced just days before a planned walkout, includes general wage increases of 25% over four years, with average pay rising 33% due to seniority steps -- Boeing's largest-ever raise, according to Commercial Airplanes President Stephanie Pope. Workers would also receive $3,000 lump-sum bonuses, reduced health care cost shares, expanded parental leave and boosted retirement contributions.

The pact addresses a core union demand by committing Boeing to build its next new airliner in the Puget Sound region, ensuring long-term job security for Washington’s aerospace workforce amid competition from non-union sites like South Carolina. Union leaders, including bargaining committee chair Jon Holden, are recommending ratification, but rank-and-file machinists rallied Wednesday outside the Everett plant waving signs reading "No Contract!!! Yes Strike!!!" and "IAM Sold Us Out Again," protesting the offer's shortfall from their 40% wage demand and lack of pension restoration.

Voting unfolds Thursday at half-a-dozen Washington sites plus one in California, with workers first deciding on the contract and then, if rejected, authorizing a strike needing two-thirds approval. A strike could halt 737 and 777 production as early as Friday midnight, rippling through Snohomish County's economy where Boeing employs tens of thousands. Pope hailed the Puget Sound commitment in an employee video as securing "jobs for generations to come," a lifeline for Everett's factory communities.