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By Bryan Corliss

June 19, 2023, © Leeham News – Roughly 6,000 Machinists Union members at Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita will vote Wednesday on a proposed four-year contract that would significantly increase pay for hourly workers.

The bargaining committee for IAM Local 839 is recommending that its members accept the deal. 

“This is not an easy decision, but it is one that we believe is a good one,” the committee wrote in a letter to members on Friday.

It noted, however, that “the decision to accept or reject this offer is up to the membership,” and added that however the vote goes, the leadership “stands 100%” behind what the members decide. 

At least some of those members are vocally urging the deal be rejected. 

“How on earth did you think this is an offer we should accept?” one worker wrote on Local 839’s Facebook page. “You have betrayed us.”  

The current contract expires just after midnight Friday, June 23. 

• Offer on its face is generous
• Comes after 13 years without a new contract
• Industry-wide ramifications should a strike occur