Boeing said Monday it had made a “best and final offer” to striking machinists that includes bigger raises and bonuses, but the workers’ union said the proposal was not enough and there would be no ratification vote before Boeing’s deadline of the end of the week.
The union complained that Boeing made public its latest offer to 33,000 striking workers without first negotiating with union negotiators.
“Boeing has no right to decide when or if you vote,” leaders of District 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said Monday night. “The company has refused to meet to discuss further; therefore, we will not vote” Friday, as Boeing has insisted.
Boeing said that after two days of talks last week with federal mediators failed to reach an agreement, “we presented a final offer that made significant improvements and took into account feedback from the union and our employees.”
The new offer is more generous than the one that was overwhelmingly rejected earlier this month. The company said the offer included 30 percent pay increases over four years, up from 25 percent in the first proposal. The union had initially demanded 40 percent over three years.
The new offer, which is being called final, signals Boeing’s willingness to end the strike that began Sept. 13. The company implemented unpaid leave for nonunion employees last week to cut costs during the strike.
The strikers also face financial pressure to return to work. They received their final paychecks last week and will lose their company-provided health insurance at the end of the month, Boeing said.
The company said its new offer was conditioned on the contract being ratified by members of the Pacific Northwest Machinists Union by Friday night, when the strike will be just over two weeks old.
The union, which represents workers at plants that assemble some of the company’s best-selling planes, waited several hours before responding Monday night.
“This proposal does not adequately address your concerns and Boeing has missed the mark with this proposal,” the union told its members. The group added that it would survey its members on the new offer.
Boeing’s latest offer includes initial pay increases of 12 percent plus three annual increases of 6 percent each.
The contract calls for doubling ratification bonuses to $6,000. It also calls for maintaining annual productivity-based bonuses. In the rejected contract, Boeing sought to replace those bonuses with new contributions to retirement accounts.
Boeing said the average annual salary for machinists would increase from $75,608 currently to $111,155 at the end of the four-year contract.
The new offer would not restore the traditional pension plan that Boeing eliminated about a decade ago. Striking workers cited wages and pensions as reasons why they voted 94.6 percent against the company’s previous offer.
Boeing also renewed its promise to build its next jetliner in the Seattle area — if that project gets off the ground within the next four years. That was a key clause for union leaders, who recommended adopting the initial contract offer, but it seemed less compelling to rank-and-file members.
The strike is likely starting to reduce Boeing’s ability to generate cash. The company gets much of its cash from delivering new planes, but the strike has halted production of the 737, 777 and 767. Work on the 787 continues with nonunion workers in South Carolina.
Boeing on Friday began requiring thousands of executives and nonunion workers to take one week of unpaid leave every four weeks as part of temporary furlough measures. The company also announced a hiring freeze, reduced business travel and cut spending on suppliers.
The cost-cutting measures are expected to last as long as the strike continues.
