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wages
'Join a Union': Boeing Workers Ratify Contract With Over 43% Wage Hike
"Working people know what it’s like when a company overreaches and takes away more than is fair," said union leaders.
Nov 05, 2024
After seven weeks on strike, Boeing workers voted Monday to ratify a new contract that includes a 43.65% wage increase over four years—a significant improvement over the 25% increase that the aerospace giant offered in September.
Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) Districts 751 and W24 approved the contract in a 59%-41% vote around two weeks after rejecting a tentative deal that called for a 35% pay increase over a four-year period.
The contract approved by workers also includes a $12,000 ratification bonus, improvements to retirement and healthcare benefits, and improved overtime rules.
"Strikes work," labor journalist Kim Kelly wrote in response to the contract vote.
Jon Holden and Brandon Bryant, respectively the presidents of IAM District 751 and W24, said in a joint statement that "working people know what it’s like when a company overreaches and takes away more than is fair."
"Through this strike and the resulting victory, frontline workers at Boeing have done their part to begin rebalancing the scales in favor of the middle class—and in doing so, we hope to inspire other workers in our industry and beyond to continue standing up for justice at work," said Holden and Bryant. "Through this victory and the strike that made it possible, IAM members have taken a stand for respect and fair wages in the workplace."
"Livable wages and benefits that can support a family are essential—not optional—and this strike underscored that reality," they added. "This contract will have a positive and generational impact on the lives of workers at Boeing and their families. We hope these gains inspire other workers to organize and join a union. Frontline Boeing workers have used their voices, their collective power, and their solidarity to do what is right, to stand up for what is fair—and to win."
IAM's international president, Brian Bryant, called the contract "a new standard in the aerospace industry—one that sends a clear statement that aerospace jobs must be middle-class careers in which workers can thrive."
"Workers in the aerospace industry, led by the IAM—the most powerful aerospace union in the world—will not settle for anything less than the respect and family-sustaining wages and benefits they need and deserve," said Bryant. "This agreement reflects the positive results of workers sticking together, participating in workplace democracy, and demonstrating solidarity with each other and with the community during a necessary and effective strike."
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and an outspoken supporter of the Boeing strike, congratulated IAM members on Monday "for winning a hard-fought victory."
"I also congratulate Machinists President Jon Holden as well as Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg for working to reach a deal that ensures Boeing will continue to build quality planes that contribute to our country's security and mobility while valuing and respecting the fact that there is no Boeing without the IAM," Jayapal said in a statement.
As did the union leadership in their remarks, Jayapal specifically thanked Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su of the Biden administration for helping secure the deal, citing "skilled leadership" that brought "both parties to the table and to an agreement."
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Instead of Blaming Policymakers for High Prices, Thank Them for High Wages
The inflation of recent years was—sadly—inevitable; the fast wage growth over the past four years was made possible entirely by proactive policy decisions.
Oct 10, 2024
Last week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 254,000 jobs were created in September and that job growth in both July and August was stronger than initially reported. This report was just the latest confirmation of the extraordinary strength of the U.S. labor market in recent years. This strength is what led to real (inflation-adjusted) incomes recovering far faster after the Covid-19 recession than they have following previous recessions. Even better, real wage growth has been by far the fastest at the low end of the wage scale, which has reduced inequality.
This labor market strength was also 100% a policy choice. Unlike previous business cycles, policymakers passed fiscal relief and recovery measures at the scale of the shock, and it proved that low unemployment could be restored very quickly after recessions so long as this policy lever was pulled with enough force.
Public appreciation of this accomplishment has been blunted by the outbreak of inflation in 2021 and 2022. While inflation has been steadily reined in since early 2023, the public’s perception of the economy remains soured by it. In a strict economic sense, the public mood seems odd: If real wages are higher and more equal now than at equivalent points in previous recoveries, why isn’t the public mood much better?
Policymakers who chose not to target significantly higher unemployment rates to tamp down inflation made the correct judgement that inflation was mostly driven by shocks that would fade even with labor markets remaining strong.
One reason put forward as to why the public dislikes inflation even if real wages and incomes are rising is pretty persuasive: Workers see wage growth as something they individually achieved while inflation was a policy mistake inflicted on them. This outlook is understandable, but it’s totally wrong.
Policy choices influence wage growth every bit as much as inflation—and sometimes more. When wage growth is slow, policymakers deserve blame—not workers. When wage growth is strong, however, it is because policy has done something right, not because workers spontaneously decided to become more productive or harder-working.
It is deeply damaging to U.S. policy debates that this is not more broadly appreciated.
For decades when wage growth for the vast majority of workers was anemic, these workers were often told it was because they weren’t skilled enough to keep pace with the demands of technological changes and globalization. This was false. It was intentional policy decisions that suppressed wage growth in those decades, policy choices meant to redistribute income upwards toward capital-owners and corporate managers.
In the past four years, workers have seen fast wage growth not because they are working more productively or harder—U.S. workers have always been the most productive in the world and have always worked hard. What changed was that policymakers decided to target a rapid return to sustained low unemployment, keeping unemployment below 4.5% for the longest stretch of time since the Vietnam War. In 2021, these tight labor markets were also accompanied by unprecedently large and expansive unemployment insurance benefits and cash transfers to households. These public supports gave workers more breathing room than ever before to be choosy about which jobs they took. These policy choices are why wages grew so fast so early in the pandemic recovery.
In fact, over the pandemic recovery, the policy fingerprints on fast wage growth are far clearer than those on too-high inflation. Inflation after 2019 was driven by two global shocks—the pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Inflation accelerated everywhere in the advanced world, and the precise amount by country was wholly unrelated to policy choices they made.
The most common critique of policymakers is that the Federal Reserve should have engineered softer labor markets and tolerated higher unemployment to break inflation’s momentum. This thinking is wrong. There is a long and extremely well-developed literature nearly unanimously showing that higher unemployment has larger and more reliable effects in reducing wage growth than it does in reducing inflation.
Policymakers who chose not to target significantly higher unemployment rates to tamp down inflation made the correct judgement that inflation was mostly driven by shocks that would fade even with labor markets remaining strong. That is, they chose to not sacrifice wage growth (and the jobs of millions of workers) to pull down inflation.
In short, the inflation of recent years was—sadly—inevitable. The fast wage growth over the past four years was made possible entirely by proactive policy decisions. Getting this straight is crucial for getting better policy going forward. And it should make the public much more appreciative about the macroeconomic choices made since 2020.
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Dockworkers Suspend Strike After Winning Tentative Deal With 62% Wage Boost
"When we STRIKE, we WIN!" said the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest federation of unions.
Oct 04, 2024
The union representing East and Gulf Coast dockworkers suspended its strike on Thursday after reaching a tentative agreement with shipping giants that reportedly includes a 62% wage boost over six years.
The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) said in a joint statement with the United States Maritime Alliance (USMX) that the union would suspend its strike until January 15 so the two sides can "return to the bargaining table to negotiate all other outstanding issues."
"Effective immediately, all current job actions will cease and all work covered by the Master Contract will resume," the statement added.
The tentative deal followed three days on the picket line during which dockworkers—who are essential to the functioning of the U.S. economy—cast their fight as a critical struggle against multinational corporations that raked in huge profits during the Covid-19 pandemic and enriched their investors as wages failed to keep pace with inflation.
“These companies... they don't give a fuck about us," Harold Daggett, the ILA's president, said from a picket line in New Jersey earlier this week. "Well, we're gonna show them they're gonna have to give a fuck about us. Because nothing's gonna move without us."
According to one estimate, the dozens of ports affected by the strike handle a combined 25% of the United States' international trade.
The Associated Pressreported Thursday that the two sides reached a tentative deal after "the ports sweetened their wage offer from about 50% over six years to 62%."
The union originally sought a 77% raise, but in recent days Daggett said the ILA would pursue a 61.5% raise for workers over the course of a new contract. Daggett rejected the shipping industry's previous wage offers as "insulting."
"Congratulations to ILA members for making huge strides and thank you to the millions of union members who stood in solidarity with them."
Under the contract that expired earlier this week, starting pay for dockworkers was $20 an hour.
Any final agreement must be ratified by union members, who also demanded protections from automation and other benefit improvements. Reutersreported that automation is among the "key issues that remain unresolved."
"When we STRIKE, we WIN!" the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest federation of unions, wrote on social media late Thursday. "Congratulations to ILA members for making huge strides and thank you to the millions of union members who stood in solidarity with them."
U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also congratulated "the 50,000 port workers who went on strike against the outrageous corporate greed of the shipping industry and won a historic increase in wages."
"Billionaires in the shipping industry must not be allowed to get even richer by replacing port workers with robots," the senator wrote.
Sanders added that Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su "did a great job negotiating a tentative agreement to increase the wages of port workers by 62% over six years."
The Biden administration declined to intervene on the side of industry to halt the strike, and President Joe Biden issued a statement earlier this week noting that "ocean carriers have made record profits since the pandemic and in some cases profits grew in excess of 800% compared to their profits prior to the pandemic."
"Executive compensation has grown in line with those profits and profits have been returned to shareholders at record rates," said Biden. "It's only fair that workers, who put themselves at risk during the pandemic to keep ports open, see a meaningful increase in their wages as well."
In a statement following news of the tentative deal, Biden said that "today's tentative agreement on a record wage and an extension of the collective bargaining process represents critical progress towards a strong contract."
"I congratulate the dockworkers from the ILA, who deserve a strong contract after sacrificing so much to keep our ports open during the pandemic," the president said. "And I applaud the port operators and carriers who are members of the U.S. Maritime Alliance for working hard and putting a strong offer on the table."
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