Health & Fitness
Machinists at Boeing earn 3.1 percent incentives
A new incentive pay plan for Machinists Union members at Boeing will make its first payout Feb. 21.
SEATTLE — The hard work of Machinists Union members at the Boeing Co. is being rewarded with a 3.1 percent payout from the new Aerospace Machinists Performance Program.
AMPP is the incentive pay program developed under the four-year contract extension with Boeing that Machinists Union members ratified in December 2011.
Under the terms of the program, Machinists working for Boeing in Puget Sound, Portland, Ore., and Wichita, Kan., will receive incentive payments on Feb. 21 equal to 3.1 percent of their total earnings — including overtime — over the last six months of 2012.
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Future payments will be based on full-year earnings.
“I’m proud of how our union members stepped up and performed,” said Tom Wroblewski, the president of Machinists Union District Lodge 751 in Seattle. “That has resulted in them sharing in the success that they helped to create.”
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The AMPP program was set up to pay 2 percent bonuses if union members hit their targets for improvements in three areas: safety, quality and productivity.
The fact that Machinists exceeded their targets and earned a 3.1 percent payout “shows our members are motivated to continuously improve performance, and have the capability to built upon those accomplishments,” the union said.
A joint IAM-Boeing committee spent hundreds of hours first developing the performance standards, then evaluating the data to “determine what should and should not be included in the calculations,” Wroblewski said.
“Their open discussions, sharing of information and collaboration will lead to future success for both our members and the company,” he predicted.
“With this success,” Wroblewski said, “I hope every member will embrace the program and search for new ways to improve in safety, quality and productivity within their own crew.
“That will be what really drives the success of this program,” he continued, “our members taking ownership.”
Originally formed in 1935 to represent hourly workers at Boeing, District Lodge 751 of the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers now represents nearly 34,000 working men and women at 48 employers across Washington, Oregon and California. In January 2013, union members in Renton began building 737s for Boeing at a record rate of 38 planes a month.
To learn more about District 751, read the Machinists News.