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Boeing (BA+1.04%) has offered its machinists a 25% raise in a new union contract, and they’re poised to reject the deal. CNN (WBD-1.38%) reports that newly installed CEO Kelly Ortberg is imploring them to accept the offer and avoid a strike that would come at a difficult time for the company.
The 30,000-plus machinists, represented by District 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Washington state, have been negotiating their contract in full for the first time since 2008. They are voting Thursday on whether to approve it.
“I know the reaction to our tentative agreement with the IAM has been passionate,” he reportedly told the workers. “I understand and respect that passion, but I ask you not to sacrifice the opportunity to secure our future together, because of the frustrations of the past.”
Should they do a work stoppage, there would be precedent: That last contract was not ratified before the union walked off the job. In July, the union said they’d be willing to do it again, with 99.9% voting in favor of the tactic.
Boeing needs these workers to put together its key 737 Max jetliners, which IAM 751 manufactures in Washington. Though the Federal Aviation Administration has capped the number of the planes that Boeing can build after a door plug blowout earlier this year exposed quality control problems, the planemaker still needs to crank out every unit that it can.
In an interview with the Seattle Times earlier this week, IAM 751 president Jon Holden did not sound hopeful that the contract would be approved. A 25% raise comes up short of the 40% that the union had been reportedly pursuing.
“The response from people is it’s not good enough,” he told the newspaper. “Right now, I think it will be voted down, and our members will vote to strike.”