Members of Missouri Jobs With Justice and St. Louis-area unions joined striking machinists on the picket line at Boeing on Wednesday night.
“I’m simply here to support, to say I’ve been there, I’ve done it, and I know that feeling when you don’t have that paycheck coming in,” said United Auto Workers member Carol Johnson.
Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837, which represents about 3,200 Boeing workers in Berkeley, St. Charles and Mascoutah have been on strike since Aug. 4. They have lost their health insurance and are not receiving paychecks. They are getting some money from strike funds.
Last week, union members voted 57% to 43% to reject a third contract proposal from Boeing. Members who voted it down said the contract's progression to the top of the pay scale was too slow and the signing bonus too small, among other problems.
Union member Joshua Arnold said at the rally Wednesday that even though the company said general wages would increase by an average of 45% with the latest contract, many workers would not get a 45% raise. He said several factors influence the raise a worker might actually get, including attendance, shift time and pay.
“The company acts like, oh, these [raises] are guaranteed. They're not,” Arnold said. “They are conditional upon certain things being met that are outside of your control.”
On Friday morning, the union is set to vote on a contract proposed by its own negotiating committee. It includes an updated 401(k) plan, higher wage increases for employees at the top of the pay scale and a $10,000 signing bonus, up from the $4,000 bonus in the previous contract.
If union members approve the contract, it will be submitted to Boeing as a pre-approved agreement. If Boeing declines the proposal, the union said it will continue to strike and be ready to return to the negotiation table with the company.
“If this passes, which I think it will, it’ll tell them this is the bar, this is what we want, this is what we have been asking for,” Arnold said.
In a statement Tuesday, Boeing St. Louis Vice President of Air Dominance Dan Gillian said the vote was a “waste of time.”
Members of the Congressional Labor Caucus sent Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg a letter on Wednesday urging the company to return to the negotiating table.
“We understand that there [are] currently no new negotiations scheduled between IAM District 837 and Boeing Defense, while IAM has repeatedly stated their readiness to continue negotiations,” the letter said.
The members of Congress who signed the letter were the caucus’s four co-chairs and Illinois Rep. Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, whose district includes a portion of the Metro East but not the Mascoutah plant.
IAM District 837 members will vote on the union's proposal from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Friday at St. Louis Music Park.
“We all need to make a living, we all need job security,” said Jon Gamache, a member of Starbucks Workers United who attended the rally. “They’re not looking for anything we’re not looking for. It’s all the same fight.”
