Prime Highlights
- More than 3,200 Boeing defense workers turned down a 20% pay raise and $5,000 signing bonus contract offer.
- The walkout was threatened to start on August 4, 2025, after a seven-day grace period when the contract lapses.
Key Facts
- Boeing had called its rejected offer its “most generous” to IAM District 837, but union members insisted on better terms.
- The conflict is between workers in plants that are key to the manufacturing of fighter jets and drones utilized by the military in Missouri and Illinois.
Key Background
Over 3,200 machinists at Boeing Defense, Space & Security buildings voted in last month of 2025 to soundly reject a negotiated collective deal. The terms of the offer were 20% pay raise within four years, ratification bonus of $5,000, and improved benefits like extra healthcare, pension, sick leave, and overtime. Despite the union members unanimously passing all the above terms as Boeing’s so far best offer, they did not consider that it reached their priorities to a satisfactory point.
The union leadership had characterized ratification of the agreement as a “landmark agreement” but members were agitated on grounds of dissatisfaction with terms they felt to be subpar. Union leaders did not specify areas of particular contention but worker mood showed mounting outrage over wages and working conditions in the context of rising pressures on factory shop floors.
The prior pact expired at 11:59 PM on July 27, triggering an automatic seven-day seven-day cooling-off period prior to legally binding action on strike. If no contract is established, a strike would begin as early as August 4 and hit Boeing’s huge defense plants in St. Louis, St. Charles, and Mascoutah. Boeing said it has contingency plans but has no further negotiations in the works at present.
This closure comes at a bad time for Boeing. Its St. Louis plants serve as the backbone for big military programs such as the F-15EX, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, T-7A trainer, MQ-25 tanker unmanned aerial vehicle, and new F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance fighter. Any hiccup would postpone deliveries and jeopardize Pentagon contracts related to Boeing’s $2 billion factory expansion.
The controversy also comes on the heels of Boeing’s highly publicized 53-day 2024 Seattle machinists walkout thatcost the company more than $5 billion. The controversy gave unions added assurance and could be the reason IAM District 837 members are taking the position they are today, another severe test of Boeing’s labor relations and defense production schedules.