Leeham News and Analysis
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Leeham News and Analysis
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- Boeing’s 2025 annual safety report due this month May 20, 2025
- FAA’s data of accident, incidents, often not shared May 19, 2025
- Bjorn’s Corner: Air Transport’s route to 2050. Part 22. May 16, 2025
Teamsters, Boeing have a new contract
By Scott Hamilton
April 29, 2025, © Leeham News: One down, two more to go this year.
The Teamsters Local 174 and Boeing have a new contract. Union members ratified a new contract on April 19. Results were announced on April 21. Local 174 represents about 300 truck drivers for Boeing in the greater Seattle region. A strike could have disrupted production.
The union said the “contract materially surpasses all previous contracts for the group. The new agreement, which not only makes major language improvements but also guarantees economic victories that raise the bar for the rest of the industry, comes on the heels of labor disputes between Boeing and the International Association of Firefighters and the International Association of Machinists.
“Contrary to those negotiations, bargaining with the Teamsters took an entirely different tone, and the resulting Agreement will protect and reward Boeing Teamsters for years to come.”
Related Story
Boeing faces three labor contracts this year
Adversarial talks to begin with
“When these negotiations began, we were prepared to face the same adversarial bargaining relationship Boeing had taken with other unionized groups, but instead we were pleased to discover this management team was committed to rewarding the hardworking drivers who keep Boeing running,” Teamsters Local 174 Secretary-Treasurer Rick Hicks said in a statement.
The union said the new contract includes “addressing retirement security for the first time in decades, strengthening protections against subcontracting Teamster work to other groups…economic improvements, with more vacations and holidays, lowering family healthcare costs, and wage increases.”
Here are the contracts that are or will become open this year and next:
- Approved: April 2025: Boeing drivers (Teamsters Local 174) in Puget Sound. They haul wing components from Auburn and Frederickson north to Renton and Everett. A strike there would seriously impact Boeing production.
- July 2025: IAM 837 assembly workers in St. Louis. (Building T-7s, F-15s and F-18s.)
- October 2025: Boeing welders in Puget Sound. Small group — a few hundred — represented by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302. There’s a pretty serious shortage of welders both nationwide and regionally, so they have more leverage than their numbers would indicate. Needed more for plant operations than for production.
- January 2026: SPEEA Wichita Technical and Professional Unit. About 1,600 people are now working for Spirit.
- October 2026: SPEEA Northwest Professional Unit and Technical Unit. Two separate but connected bargaining agreements currently cover slightly more than 17,000 workers in Washington, Oregon, California and Utah.
Congrats to the workers and Boeing.
This sounds very positive for the unionized strikung workers and for Boeing
Kind of a strange sentence. There are no striking workers right now, union of otherwise, there are union workers who could strike latter on.
Having driven trucks I am not sure I would call it hard work at all. Vital yes, hard, not so much.
The article didn’t say that the work was hard — it said that the drivers were hardworking.
It’s possible to be diligent (hardworking) in a job that isn’t difficult (hard).
Any details as to the size of the pay increase that was given? And any details of other benefits?
The employees at Spirit Aero will be eager for details, so that they can benchmark against what BA may eventually offer them if/when the takeover deal is greenlighted by regulators. For now, they have the IAM751 sweeteners as a benchmark…but more data is always welcome.
Good news in getting the 777X certified
https://aviationweek.com/air-transport/aircraft-propulsion/boeing-adds-crosswind-tests-777-9-milestones
Kind of an odd statement in that the issue is the engines not the airframe and all the rest in it.
https://www.flightglobal.com/airframers/aercap-ceo-not-interested-in-737-and-a320-replacements/162826.article
Neither Airbus or Boeing has any control over the mfgs and their problems. Bjorn as put out the need for more testing and I fully agree, but you also have numbers built and into service before the problems show up. The Trent 1000 being an example.
What is relevant I think is the comment on hotter engines and never getting the reliability levels CFM-56 and V2500 established.
Its also interesting to note P&W thinks they can gain 25% with a new GTF. That has been my impression all along, they were conservative on the PW1000 series and now they have the data to maximize it. With enough testing, interesting. I don’t think CFM can make LEAP any hotter.
P&W did not go the full on hotter route that CFM did. So they have room and I would think from the F-135 engine they have the design group that knows materials that are hotter. They have managed far more power and pretty reliable out of that engine than was ever envisioned.
Of course some would say P&W is cheating using military tech for a civilian endeavor. I always found that attitude most conveniently selective. Kind of like Bonds on steroids. SFO fans were fine, others not so much. If its your guy doing it that is what counts!
But right now, we have no new single aisle aka Heart of the Market on the horizon.
It would be an interesting one for an A320NEO2. And could Boeing stuff one onto a MAX? They would have to try if Airbus made a move.
RR can come out with a GTF down in that area though P&W obviously has the better chops for it. CFM could as well but less so that both.