Striking Boeing workers rejected a new contract. Here’s what happens next

Boeing machinists overwhelmingly rejected a contract proposal this week, opting to extend a week-long strike and send negotiators back to the bargaining table.

According to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), the union that represents 33,000 Boeing workers in Washington, Oregon and California, 64 percent of workers voted against the new contract.

The result follows the resounding defeat of an earlier proposal last month, which was rejected by more than 90% of union members.

The successive “no” votes set the stage for a standoff between Boeing and its workers that will strain both sides’ finances in the coming days and weeks, experts told ABC News. These financial pressures will result in the dispute being resolved, but workers are unlikely to back down without major concessions, they added.

“The union has sent a very clear message to Boeing that it will cost significantly more to reach an agreement,” Harley Shaiken, a professor emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley who focuses on labor history, told ABC News.

The proposed contract would have resulted in a 35% increase over the four-year term, increasing the cumulative 25% increase provided for in a previous offer that was overwhelmingly rejected by workers in a vote last month. The employees had initially demanded a cumulative wage increase of 40%.

The proposal also called for an increase in Boeing’s contribution to a 401(k) plan, but declined to address workers’ demands to reinstate the company’s defined pension. The contract would have included a ratification bonus of $7,000 for each worker as well as a performance bonus that Boeing wanted to give up.

But union leaders said the concessions offered in the proposal were not enough to meet the demands of rank-and-file union members.

“These contract disputes began over a decade ago when the company went too far and created a wound that may never heal for many members,” Jon Holden, president of IAM District 751 in Seattle, said in a statement after the vote. “I don’t need to tell you all how challenging it has been for our members due to the pandemic, the crashes, massive inflation and the need to deal with the losses from the 2014 contract.”

Boeing did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

Experts who spoke to ABC News predicted Boeing’s willingness to restart talks and even reconsider key parts of the offer.

Just hours before workers cast their vote on Wednesday, Boeing released an earnings report showing that the company lost a staggering $6.1 billion in its most recent quarter, even though most of that period occurred before the strike began.

The strike is expected to deepen this financial hole. A 50-day work stoppage would cost Boeing $5.5 billion, investment bank TD Cowen said in a report reviewed by ABC News early in the dispute. So far the strike has lasted 41 days.

“This rejection creates further uncertainty, costs and recovery delays,” Bank of America Global Research said in a note to clients on Thursday. “We expect further wage concessions will be required for an agreement to be reached.”

Financial stress will also increase for employees, experts said.

Union members received $250 a week from a strike fund starting the third week of the work stoppage. This compensation represents a significant pay cut for many employees.

“When strikes last longer than five or six weeks, that’s when the financial pressures really start to impact the union base,” Robert Forrant, a professor of U.S. history and labor studies at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, told ABC News.

Although union members remain largely opposed to the latest contract offer, it received greater support than the first. This gradual progress could lead Boeing to continue its strategy of increasing worker wages while sticking with its refusal to reinstate a defined pension, Ryan Stygar, an employment lawyer at Centurion Trial Attorneys based in San Diego, California, told ABC News.

With a collective bargaining agreement ratified by the union in 2014, workers lost a traditional pension plan. The union’s call to reinstate the pension could have more appeal to long-time employees who feel they have lost their pension rights than to younger ones who joined the company after switching to a 401(k), Stygar said.

“Boeing’s strategy will be to try to exploit this generational gap,” Stygar said, noting that higher wages and a larger ratification bonus could entice younger workers to support a future proposal, even if it reinstates the Skips pension.

“If the strike continues and Boeing’s losses pile up, I think we will see more aggressive negotiations,” Stygar added, saying the standoff could drag on for another two to four weeks.

“But I don’t have a crystal ball,” Stygar said.

ABC News’ Jack Moore and Ayesha Ali contributed to this report.