Unions Defy members are sending a message to their leaders: Perform better. They are fed up with inflation eating away at their salaries and feeling empowered by the United Auto Workers’ victorious strikes last year.
After their unions’ bargaining committees spent months working out accords for them to ratify, members have recently turned down contracts at AT&T, Boeing, Textron, and other firms.
Significantly, in September, 94% of machinists in the biggest union at Boeing voted against the proposed deal, which called for wage increases of 25% spread over four years. Never before has members of the local chapter of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers turned down a contract that was suggested by their leaders.
The agreement was referred to as a historic rise by the head of the IAM chapter. “My assumption is that he made every effort to obtain the best possible deal for his members” said Josh McKenzie a worker at Boeing’s Renton, Washington, 737 plant.
It didn’t appear too horrible at first glance. However, the more I read it the more it appeared that we would be in a similar situation.
Unions Defy members did strike against the leader Decision
Even without union protection the average American worker makes more money than non-union employees. However, as many unionized workers were bound by multiyear collective bargaining agreements that they had signed before to the post-pandemic inflation spike, the disparity has closed in recent years.
This year, union officials are facing more opposition since the workforce is more agitated, according to Cathy Creighton, a labor lawyer at Cornell University’s ILR School.
“Workers want to go on strike because they don’t get their fair share of the pie,” the spokesperson stated.
A large portion of dockworkers went on strike last week as a result of this mood, and the walkout only ended after port bosses guaranteed a larger salary raise than what they had originally proposed. Now that a 62% raise has been obtained the parties can discuss automation-related concerns.
The comparatively tight labor market and the UAW’s accomplishment in negotiating a new contract with Stellantis the parent company of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler last year—which was achieved through a daring tactic of numerous strikes—encourage workers.
Along with a shorter time frame to reach top pay, better retirement benefits, and the ability to strike over plant closures the UAW obtained a 25% pay increase spread over four years. Even so a portion of the votes needed to victory were nail-bitingly close.
Creighton stated, “I think things would be different if the UAW’s negotiations had ended in a dismal failure.”
Approximately 5,000 employees of Textron’s aviation division in Wichita, Kansas, who are also represented by the IAM overwhelmingly decided last month to reject a deal that union leaders had proposed. Since September 23, they have been on strike and talks have not yet resumed. A pay raise of 26% over four years was stipulated in the agreement.
“This is the result of every worker realizing they have fallen behind,” stated Brian Bryant, the 600,000-member IAM union’s international president. “This is an extension of the UAW’s “enough is enough” mentality.”
Union members should be aware of firms that are simultaneously negotiating various deals. The Communications Workers of America union represents about 8,000 AT&T workers in California and Nevada who have been without a contract since April.
Members rejected a revised contract proposal from the group’s bargaining committee in September.
By then, the western laborers were riding high: counterparts in several states in the Southeast were going on strike over their own collective bargaining procedures.
Later, the telecom behemoth and both parties arrived at provisional agreements. Voting on the two proposed contracts, which include an improved deal for workers in the West, is set on October 18.
Leaders may present a proposal that they believe their members will reject for strategic reasons, especially if the corporation is not willing to negotiate better terms. Voting “no” might cause the corporation to look bad and perhaps spark strikes.
Prior to the vote, the union leadership informed members that they had “achieved the best contract we have ever had” in the Boeing strike.
In online forums and on the work floor, members expressed their fury, denouncing the wage increase as insignificant and denouncing the company’s decision to discontinue annual incentives. A commitment to next-generation planes was met with skepticism by many. Restoring pension benefits at Boeing was another desire of some.
The local Boeing machinists chapter president, Jon Holden, stated that he thinks the union officials have to endorse the agreement in order to persuade the business to accept a 25% pay increase and other enhancements. He stated “We had to suggest it or we would have been at 18% with no job security.” “Without going to strike, we negotiated the best contract we could.”
Boeing opted not to respond. This week, the two parties’ talks came to a standstill.
In the airline business, an agreement is sometimes reached after several attempts. Years can pass during negotiations, and even if union members reject contracts, it is impossible to go on strike due to government regulations.
Alaska Airlines’s flight attendants voted down a tentative agreement in August, which offered an average raise of 32% over three years.
Southwest Airlines’s flight attendants in December rejected a tentative agreement with the company that would have included an initial 20% pay increase followed by 3% annual raises in subsequent years.
In January, Southwest’s flight attendants voted in favor of authorizing a strike for the first time, though negotiations continued. The union ratified a new four-year contract in April, which included larger pay raises. It also elected a new president who ran on a promise to repair a disconnect between union leaders and members.
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source
wsj.com
