Boeing said Monday it made a “best and final offer” to striking union machinists that features greater raises and greater bonuses than a proposed contract that was overwhelmingly rejected.
The company said the offer includes pay raises of 30% over 4 years, up from the rejected 25% raises.
The brand latest offer — and labeling it a final one — demonstrates Boeing’s eagerness to complete the strike by about 33,000 machinists that began Sept. 13. The company introduced rolling furloughs of non-unionized employees last week to cut costs throughout the strike.
The strikers face their very own financial pressure to return to work. They received their final paychecks last week and might lose company-provided medical insurance at the highest of the month, in accordance with Boeing.
The company said its latest offer is contingent on members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Staff ratifying the contract by late Friday night, when the strike will likely be a bit of bit over two weeks old.
The union, which represents factory staff who assemble various the company’s best-selling planes, said it was reviewing the offer.
“Employees knew Boeing executives could do higher, and this shows the workers were right all along,” Brian Bryant, the union’s international president, said in a press release. “The proposal will likely be analyzed to see if it’s as much because the duty of helping staff gain adequate ground on prior sacrifices,”
Boeing’s latest offer includes upfront pay raises of 12% plus three annual raises of 6% each.
It’ll double the size of ratification bonuses to $6,000. It also would keep annual bonuses based on productivity. Inside the rejected contract, Boeing sought to replace those payouts with latest contributions to retirement accounts.
Boeing said average annual pay for machinists would rise from $75,608 now to $111,155 at the highest of the four-year contract.
The brand latest offer wouldn’t restore a regular pension plan that Boeing eliminated a number of decade ago. Striking staff cited pay and pensions as the explanation why they voted 94.6% against the company’s previous offer.
Boeing also renewed a promise to construct its next latest airline plane throughout the Seattle area — if that project starts in the next 4 years. That was a key provision for union leaders, who helpful adoption of the unique contract offer, but one which seemed less persuasive to rank-and-file members.
The strike might be going already beginning to reduce Boeing’s ability to generate money. The company gets much of its money when it delivers latest planes, nonetheless the strike has shut down production of 737s, 777s and 767s. Work on 787s continues with nonunion staff in South Carolina.
On Friday, Boeing began requiring lots of of managers and nonunion employees to take one week off without pay every 4 weeks under the temporary rolling furloughs. It also has announced a hiring freeze, reduced business travel and decreased spending on suppliers.
The cash-saving measures are expected to last as long as the strike continues.