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.”

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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.