Jenny Brown

2024 in Review: Strikes and Organizing Score Gains, but Storm Clouds Loom

Union workers broke open the cookie jar in 2024, after years of stagnant wages and rising prices. With strikes and the threat of strikes, workers did more than forestall concessions: They gained ground. Union workers in the private sector saw 6 percent real wage rises for the year.

Just the fear that workers would organize drove up wages at non-union employers like Delta Airlines, Amazon, and Mercedes.

Boeing Machinists End 53-Day Strike with 38 Percent Raise

Striking Boeing Machinists will start returning to work tomorrow after voting for a new contract with substantial wage increases. The 33,000 Seattle-area Machinists voted 59 percent to accept, just two weeks after two-thirds of them voted to reject a slightly worse contract.

Voting was more subdued this time, workers said. “The big difference in this contract is that we're getting a lot of intimidation from our CEO now,” said striker Mylo Lang. He voted no.

‘Not Good Enough’: Striking Machinists Reject New Boeing Offer

After 40 days on strike, 33,000 Machinists rejected an improved contract offer from Boeing by 64 percent on Wednesday. The offer included a 35 percent wage increase over 4 years.

Members of Machinists (IAM) District 751 and District W24 build passenger jets and freighters, including the 737, 767, and 777. Most work at Boeing’s huge factories at Everett and Renton, Washington.

“It’s a little bit better, but it still needs to go further,” said Ky Carlson, who was staffing a picket line at Everett on Tuesday, where she would normally be assembling the 777.

Port Strike Ends, Workers Win $24 Wage Increase

East Coast Longshore workers with the International Longshoremen’s Association are returning to work, after three raucous days on the picket lines. They received a promise of a $24-an-hour pay raise over six years, bringing top pay from $39 to $63.

The strike paralyzed shipping in huge port complexes like Newark, Houston, and Charleston, stopping loads of fruit, vehicles, and heavy equipment. It was the first coastwide strike for the ILA since 1977.

Ships Piled Up as Longshore Strike Hit East Coast Ports

Longshore workers walked off the job at midnight at Atlantic and Gulf ports from Boston to Houston. This is the first coastwide strike since 1977 for the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), and took many by surprise. The workforce loads, unloads, and tracks ship cargo, and maintains port machinery.

The 19,000-worker walkout shut down 14 port complexes, as ILA members drew the line at automation that threatens their jobs. Wages are also an issue; the last contract was negotiated in 2018 before shocks from the pandemic and inflation.

Strike Threat Wins Boarding and Retro Pay at American Airlines

Flight attendants at American Airlines were celebrating September 12 after approving a new five-year agreement by 87 percent, with 95 percent turnout. They won a big retroactive pay package and an immediate wage increase of 20 percent.

They also became the first flight attendants to nail down boarding pay in a union contract. Flight attendants typically are not paid until the aircraft doors close. All that greeting, seating, sorting out problems, and assistance with bags is off the clock.

Can the Machinists Save Boeing from Its Management?

Boeing has increased its offer to striking Machinists, hoping to end a work stoppage that entered its eleventh day today. According to the Seattle Times, the new proposal would raise wages 30 percent over four years, as opposed to 25 percent in the offer that workers rejected by 94.6 percent.

Boeing Machinists Strike

Third-shift workers walked out of Boeing’s giant factories at Renton and Everett, Washington, as their contract expired early Friday morning, blasting music and airhorns, shooting off fireworks, and waving hand-made signs. They immediately formed picket lines and began setting up homemade burn barrels with “IAM” carved in the side.

‘Hard No’: Boeing Workers React to Tentative Agreement

With their contract expiring at midnight on Thursday, the Machinists union at the aircraft giant Boeing announced a tentative contract agreement September 8. It was a shock to many union members.

“Insulting,” “Joke of a contract,” and “Hard no” were some of the more polite reactions registered on X in response to the proposal, which would raise wages 25 percent over the four-year life of the deal, but eliminate an annual bonus of 3 to 6 percent of wages.

Striking Is in the Air at Boeing

Mondays and Wednesdays are loud at the vast Boeing factory in Everett, Washington. As the Machinists’ contract campaign heats up, the workforce has been serenading management at lunch with air horns, train horns, and vuvuzelas—plus chants of “Out the Door in ’24.”

Pages