SPEEA Stands with IAM on Strike Sanction Vote

About a dozen SPEEA members and staffers attended a rally at Seattle’s T-Mobile Park on July 17 to support more than 20,000 Machinists Union members who voted nearly unanimously to support their union’s strike sanction vote.

“It’s time to save Boeing from itself,” IAM 751 District President Jon Holden told the cheering crowd. “There is no Boeing without you.”

The vote is an important step in the IAM’s contract negotiating process but does not necessarily signify that a strike is imminent. However, the strong turnout at the rally will strengthen union leadership’s hand at the bargaining table, by showing the company that IAM members are united and determined to win a fair contract.

“Are you willing to strike to get the contract you deserve?” Holden asked his members. “I know you are.”

SPEEA, IFPTE Local 2001, is strongly supporting our IAM brothers and sisters. Their success in their current talks will lay the foundation for our union’s negotiations with Boeing for our Northwest Prof and Tech units in 2026.

Holden recognized this in his remarks at the rally. He said that while the Machinists Union members will benefit directly from an improved contract, their gains will benefit others too.

“We’re fighting for the engineers,” Holden said. “We’re fighting for everyone in our communities.” 

Negotiators from IAM Districts 751 (Seattle) and W24 (Portland, Ore.) will continue to meet with their Boeing labor relations counterparts throughout the rest of the summer to work on a contract union members will vote on sometime after Labor Day. The IAM’s contract with Boeing expires Sept. 12.

At the rally, Holden listed a number of priorities his union’s members had identified in surveys, including restoration of pensions, reductions in out-of-pocket health care costs for workers, and raises that would make Machinists at Boeing “the highest-paid aerospace workers in the world.”

The union also seeks a commitment from Boeing that its next new aircraft will be built by union workers in the Pacific Northwest.