(left to right) IAM Shop Steward and Flight Mechanic Steve Graeser, Flight Inspector Jimmie Case, and Flight Mechanic Darrin Tune install an AIM-9 Missile Launcher on an F/A-18 Super Hornet at Boeing-St. Louis.

Solidarity Pays Off at Boeing-St. Louis
On May 23, IAM members of District 837 poured onto the University of Missouri campus for an historic vote with the potential to shut down Boeing’s F-15, F/A-18 and C-17 military aircraft assembly lines.

Casting ballots against the backdrop of a global war on terrorism and large-scale military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, IAM members in St. Louis and St. Charles, MO, Patuxent River, MD and China Lake, CA, approved the three-year contract by 1,221 to 808.

Under the new three-year accord, wages will rise by three percent in the first and third years in addition to payments of $3,000 and $2,000 in the first and second years of the new agreement.

Boeing’s “last, best and final” contract offer, delivered to the District 837 Bargaining Committee only days before the vote, contained significant improvements over three earlier offers. After intense negotiations and vivid displays of shop floor solidarity, the company nearly doubled the wage rate hike, cut back on workers’ share of healthcare costs and boosted bonus payments from $2,750 to $5,000.

The Bargaining Committee responded to the membership’s top three issues: job security, retiree benefits, and rising healthcare costs,” said District 837 President and lead negotiator Rick Smith. “We now have some of the best job security language in the industry, an increased pension formula for future retirees and a new plan to offset rising retiree insurance costs.” “

Workers at Boeing voted to accept the agreement despite concerns over increased costs for some employee healthcare plans. “Until there is a national solution to the rising cost of healthcare, companies will continue to put the cost of healthcare on the backs of their employees,” said Smith.

In a message to IAM members, IP Buffenbarger applauded the outcome as an example of how this country’s defense workers can and should bargain aggressively during wartime. “The pursuit of labor’s fair share is not at odds with the pursuit of national security,” said Buffenbarger.