Holiday cheer and peace on earth may have finally penetrated a longstanding battle between Boeing Co. and its union.
Yesterday the International Association of Machinists (IAM) approved a pay deal that will extend the current contract agreement with Boeing by four years and keep them building the company’s 737 jet in Washington state.
According to the Washington Post, workers also will get a 2-percent wage increase each year of the contract, cost-of-living adjustments, a new performance-based incentive program, improvements in the pension program and a $5,000 ratification bonus for each union member. Seventy-four percent of 31,000 machinists voted in favor of the deal.
“I’m confident we’ve turned an important corner in the 76-year relationship between Boeing and the IAM,” IAM Vice President Rich Michalski said in a statement. “Both sides are committed to maintaining the high levels of communications and cooperation that produced this agreement.”
But for Boeing, the icing on the cake is that the union asked the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to withdraw a complaint the machinists filed in which they allege the company built a 787 Dreamliner factory in South Carolina to illegally transfer work to a nonunion plant outside of Washington in order to retaliate against past union strikes.
Bloomberg reports that the NLRB will consider the union’s request to dismiss the case against Boeing.
