The Machinists Union President Talks Boeing Strike and the Presidential Election

"Eventually, all workers, they reach a boiling point, and they say 'enough is enough.'"

CEOs can’t build planes. (Photo: Getty)

Thirty-three thousand Boeing workers, members of the International Association of Machinists (IAM) have been on strike for a week. The workers voted overwhelmingly to strike after rejecting a contract offer from Boeing as insufficient. They are seeking wage gains and a restoration of their pension, which they were forced to give up a decade ago when the company threatened to build its new planes outside of Washington state, where its factories are unionized. Boeing has been moving an increasing amount of production to its non-union plant in South Carolina, which the IAM has not yet succeeded in organizing. A persuasive case has been made that Boeing’s recent and highly publicized quality control issues are rooted in their efforts to enrich shareholders by escaping the union’s influence.

I spoke to Brian Bryant, the IAM’s international president, by phone yesterday as he was visiting the picket lines in Portland, Oregon.

---

---

How Things Work: What are you hearing from your members on the picket lines today?

Brian Bryant: They are strong. They’re resolved. They want to get this settled. But it’s not that they want to get it settled prematurely. They want the right deal, they need the right deal. And this company, they know what they’ve got to do to get these people back to work. They can, very simply, end the strike tomorrow by offering a package that truly makes up for the stagnated wages for the last ten years, the loss of the pension, the continuation and escalation of the cost of health insurance. They’ve got to address all of those.

It’s hard to get back pensions once they’re gone. Are people optimistic about winning back the pension?

Bryant: Our members are resolved that retirement has got to be addressed in these negotiations. It’s shameful that you have people that work for a company for 20, 30, 40 years, and that they have no retirement security when you retire. I know you can talk to somebody from Boeing and they’ll say, “we have a 401(k) that has a substantial match compared to other employers.” We’re not gonna deny that. That’s true. But here’s the problem: The wages that they’re paying people. There’s so many people who can’t participate in that 401(k) because they need all of their income to go towards their mortgage, their rent, their bills, their groceries. So realistically, especially the new workers here, they can’t participate in the 401(k). All those years that they can’t participate, they’re not generating anything for future retirement income. That has to be addressed.

There’s been a lot of various bad news about Boeing in recent years. How do you explain to the public the connection between the company’s problems and the way that they treat the union and the workers?

Bryant: The cause of this has been bad decisions made by the Boeing company [since] ten years ago. All those bad decisions have led to this strike. Because, here’s the deal, they could very easily settle this strike, and all they have to do is use the same blueprint that they use to pay those exorbitant salaries, the ridiculous bonuses that they’ve been giving people, the stock buybacks, all of those things. The blueprint that was used to do that, there’s no reason why they couldn’t use that same blueprint and resolve this contract. They’ve gone to that well for their corporate executives and their managers. They give them their bonuses and their stock buybacks. There’s no reason why they can’t go to that well for the workers who actually build the planes that support this company.

This strike has some similarities to the successful UAW strike at the Big Three automakers last year—many years of worker givebacks following the Great Recession, until the workers finally hit their limit.

Bryant: It’s not just the Big Three or Boeing. This has happened in [many] corporations. Eventually, all workers, they reach a boiling point, and they say “enough is enough.” And that’s what’s happened here. The workers said, it’s time we take a stand. We can’t continue to be set back. And the only way we’re gonna improve our positions is we’ve got to hit the streets. We’ve got to strike this employer.

Have you thought about taking another run at unionizing the Boeing plant in South Carolina?

Bryant: Absolutely. We’ve never left South Carolina. We work with people right now on the inside. We know that they’re paying close attention to what’s happening here in both Washington and Portland. They made a bad decision when they moved to South Carolina. But guess what? Those workers are realizing, hey, wait a minute, we’re building these planes for this company, and we’re not seeing the wages we deserve, the benefits we deserve.

---

---

Do you get any sense that Boeing actually buys into the argument that there’s a business case to be made that a lot of their problems started when they were trying to break the union, and a better relationship with the union can go a long way towards solving those problems?

Bryant: I’m willing to give the new CEO a chance. But he’s gotta do the right things on this strike. He’s gotta settle this contract for these workers here. But we’re willing to give him a chance that he wants to rebuild the Boeing reputation. We want to rebuild that. We want to get it back to where it was in the 80s and 90s. We want to get it back to the point when everyone respected and loved that when they were flying on a Boeing airplane, they knew they were getting the best quality product out there, and that they were flying on the safest plane. To get back to that point, this company’s gotta start listening to their workers.

You became IAM president in January. What are your longer term goals for the union, after you wrap this strike?

Bryant: It never ends for us. We’re gonna use this to continue to build our union, to strengthen what we already have in our union—to strengthen our members’ contracts as those come up, but [also] grow our union with new members. Because we know the American labor movement’s at a time right now when it’s got the highest favorability, and we’re gonna continue to capitalize on that. When we organize more members, get them under a contract, all of our members become stronger. So we’re gonna continue building on that, working with this current administration, the most pro-union administration ever for workers. This is a movement. The movement can never stop, it’s got to keep going.

The Teamsters made news this week for not endorsing anyone in the presidential election. Your union has endorsed Harris. What are you telling your members about the presidential race?

Bryant: We had an internal process where we polled our members, and overwhelmingly our members had chosen Joe Biden as who they want to nominate. Now, obviously that changed. President Biden, being a true American, made a decision that it was in the best interests of the country to step aside. We did the next best thing, since we weren’t gonna be able to organize [another] internal poll, we took it to our delegates, to our convention, and allowed them to make the decision on who our union would endorse. We voted to endorse Harris and Walz.

Comment on the Teamster situation: really just a lack of leadership.

Your membership has some similarity to the Teamsters. You feel like your members are bought in on supporting Harris?

Bryant: Look, I’m not gonna deny that we have members who support Trump. We knew that, we’ve known that. We have independent members, we have Republican members, we have Democratic members. But the majority of our members are supporting Harris and Walz.

---

Support Independent Labor Journalism

Previously, in union interviews: Shawn Fain; Sara Nelson; Gwen Mills of Unite Here; A striking Pittsburgh Post-Gazette worker.

This publication, How Things Work, is independent, free to read, and 100% funded by you, my lovely readers. If you like this place and want it to continue to exist and remain paywall-free, please take a few seconds to become a paid subscriber right now. It’s affordable. It’s a good cause. It supports independent labor journalism. And it allows me to avoid putting this site behind a paywall, where it’s less accessible. This is the new media, my friends: we rise or fall together. Thank you all for reading.

---

“The Hammer” Book Tour

Speaking of the labor movement and how it can save America and why that’s taking so long: I wrote a book about it. It’s called “The Hammer,” and it is available for order wherever books are sold. I’ve spent the past seven months traveling around the country talking to people about it, and WE’RE STILL ROLLING ON. I’m in Florida next week, and then back in Brooklyn. Come out and talk about the labor movement with me!

• Wednesday, September 25: St. Augustine, Florida. I’ll be speaking at Flagler College at the Ringhaver/ Gamache-Kroger Theatre at 7 pm.

• Thursday, September 26: Gainesville, Florida. At The Lynx Books at 6 pm. In conversation with labor activist Candi Churchill. Event link here.

• Sunday, September 29: Brooklyn, NY. At the Brooklyn Book Festival—3 pm at 250 Joralemon Street. With Astra Taylor, Deepak Bhargava, and Max Alvarez. Event link here.

I hope to see some of you out there. If you’re interested in bringing me to your city to speak, email me.