UPDATE: Oct. 27, 2025: Boeing workers represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837 at the company’s St. Louis-area fighter jet plants have voted to reject the company’s revised proposed contract on Sunday.
The vote was tight, with 51% voting to reject and 49% voting to accept, Boeing said in a statement on Sunday, adding that the company is disappointed with the results.
“With the close result and the increased interest we’re hearing from teammates who want to cross the picket line, it’s clear many understand the value of our offer,” the Super Hornet maker said. “We are turning our focus to executing the next phase of our contingency plan in support of our customers.”
The Machinists union said that Boeing’s claims were wrong and that “very few members” have crossed the picket line, adding that “solidarity remains strong.” IAM also said Boeing allegedly has been unable to find workers with the same skills and experience as the union-represented employees and that Boeing’s defense aircraft deliveries will continue to be delayed as a result of the strike. Boeing’s defense aircraft deliveries in the third quarter decreased nearly 12% to 30 units, down from 34 for the same period last year.
“Our members aren’t going to be fooled by PR spin,” said Brian Bryant, IAM Union International President. “It’s well past time for Boeing to stop cheaping out on the workers who make its success possible and bargain a fair deal that respects their skill and sacrifice.”
A date for when IAM and Boeing will resume negotiations has not yet been set, the union said in an email. Investors will know more about the Machinists strike’s three-month impact when Boeing releases its Q3 earnings report on Oct. 29
Oct. 24: Approximately 3,200 Boeing workers represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 837 will vote on the company’s revised contract offer on Oct. 26, the union said in an email Thursday.
Boeing’s revisions to the five-year proposal include a $3,000 ratification bonus, down from $4,000 in the last offer. The modified deal also adds a $1,000 retention bonus in year four of the contract and Boeing stock units with a grant date value of $3,000, effective Oct. 31.
Furthermore, the deal removed language that allowed managers and non-union workers to perform Machinists’ work for the first 30 days of returning to the job, IAM said in the email.
“The company also wants to terminate any member who doesn’t immediately return to work, despite the fact that many of our members have taken other jobs to support their families during the strike,” the union said in an Oct. 22 press release. “That is absolutely unacceptable.”
As part of the offer, Boeing also accepted the Machinists’ proposal for a 1.5% general wage increase and a 2.5% lump sum in year four of the contract. Boeing also said it made trade-offs by reducing the good attendance incentive from $0.50 per hour to $0.25 per hour.
The expanded vacation and sick time, free primary care clinic and a pension multiplier increase remain the same, according to Boeing’s contract summary.
“This continues to remain the strongest agreement ever offered to IAM 837,” Dan Gillian, Boeing Air Dominance vice president, general manager and senior St. Louis site executive, said in an Oct. 22 statement. “This deal respects you and rewards your skillset while supporting the future of our St. Louis-area sites for generations to come.”
If the Machinists vote to ratify the contract, the union-represented Boeing workers will return to work Nov. 3.
Boeing employees will be voting on a proposal that IAM District 837’s bargaining committee said it does not endorse, according to an email from the union. The offer comes after the two parties resumed negotiations for the first time since Sept. 29 and spent two days in discussions with a federal mediator. While Boeing made adjustments to its proposal, the Machinists bargaining committee called it an “insulting offer.”
Prior to resuming negotiations, IAM filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board against Boeing for allegedly refusing to bargain.
The offer also comes after one Boeing union member testified before a Senate committee on Wednesday. Joshua Arnold, a U.S. Army veteran and a support coordinator on the F/A-18 Super Hornet service life modification program, has been with Boeing for 11 years, according to his written testimony.
He told senators that the company would allegedly issue ultimatums to the union and threaten to replace them, actions Boeing has said it began as part of its contingency plan. Arnold added that the company allegedly threatened to move the work out of state. Last month, Boeing announced it was moving the Super Hornet upgrade work to its California, Florida and Texas facilities in 2026 and sunsetting the work at the St. Louis plants by 2027, a decision the company said it made prior to the strike.
Arnold added that union-represented Boeing workers have missed 12 weeks of work and six paychecks and that the company allegedly cut off their healthcare insurance and halted their retirement savings contributions. Union members have been paid $300 a week for strike pay.
Earlier in October, IAM District 751, which represents about 33,000 Boeing workers at the company’s commercial plane facilities, donated $32,000 to the IAM District 837’s strike fund to support members on strike.
“The decision to strike is a hard one, and holding the line for this long is even harder,” Arnold said in his remarks at the Senate committee hearing.
“The chips are undoubtedly stacked against workers in favor of corporations,” Arnold added. “We took this action together because this is the tool we have, and we truly believe the company’s offer does not respect our skill and dedication.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with the outcome of the Oct. 26 union contract vote and reactions from the parties involved.
