Paul Ellertson, online publishing coordinator

Boeing machinists have decided to continue their strike on the West Coast, which has been going on since mid-September, according to Al Jazeera. The strike has halted production at two factories in Seattle, the production sites of the 737 Max and 777, which has taken a large toll on Boeing’s profits. In a report of its third quarter for 2024, Boeing had over $6 billion in losses. Moreover, according to Al Jazeera, the strike has shed more light on evergrowing “concerns about safety and quality standards.” Boeing has been under scrutiny ever since the incident last January when a door panel flew off an Alaska. Airlines owned 737 Max mid-flight. 

According to NPR, the primary reason the workers are on strike is because Boeing took away their traditional pension plan 10 years ago. Boeing threw away the pension system so it would have the funds to build its 777X Jetliner, according to Reuters. At the time, Boeing claimed it was trying to “curb the unsustainable growth of our long term pension liability.”  

In an interview with the Echo, Augsburg Political Science Professor Andrew Aoki described the significance of pensions, stating “Pensions are important to any worker, but to older ones, they’re particularly critical, since older workers wouldn’t have time to make up for the lost money. For all workers, the pension can be an important part of their total compensation, so cuts in the pension is a cut in their overall compensation.” Workers are demanding a 40% pay increase and voters rejected an offer to have their pay increased by 35% in the latest vote, according to Al Jazeera. Boeing declined to comment on the results of the vote.

According to NPR, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the union representing Boeing machinists, has been in communication with the U.S. Department of Labor in an effort to progress the negotiating process. Both sides have reached some agreements, but continue to disagree over pensions. 

According to Reuters, experts say the workers don’t have a very good chance at restoring old pensions due to Boeing’s now precarious financial situation. Jon Holden, negotiator for the Boeing workers on strike, stated that “it does come down to potentially other defined benefit options, which we are willing to do.” Aoki expanded on these sentiments and the uncertainty of reaching an agreement, asserting that “restoring the pension would create an enormous liability for Boeing, so it’s hard to see them agreeing to that. Ultimately, what seems most likely is that Boeing would need to greatly increase what they’ve been contributing to the 401(k). The latest reports suggest that there has been tentative agreement on many issues, but the retirement remains the big source of disagreement.”