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    Boeing Says It Has Made Its ‘Best and Final’ Offer to Striking Workers

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    The proposal includes raises of 30 percent over the four-year contract, up from a 25 percent offer, but it’s unclear whether it will satisfy workers.Boeing on Monday made what it described as its “best and final” contract offer to more than 33,000 striking union employees.The proposal offers benefits beyond those in a tentative contract that the employees, who are represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, resoundingly rejected less than two weeks earlier. Boeing gave the workers, most of whom work in commercial aircraft production in the Seattle area, until the end of Friday to accept the offer.Boeing and the union restarted negotiations last week with the help of a federal mediator. The talks ended on Wednesday with no further negotiation dates scheduled, the union said at the time.Brian Bryant, the international president of the union, said in a statement on Monday that the organization was reviewing the offer.“Employees knew Boeing executives could do better, and this shows the workers were right all along,” he said. “The proposal will be analyzed to see if it’s up to the task of helping workers gain adequate ground on prior sacrifices.”The new proposal includes raises of 30 percent over the four-year term of the contract, up from the previous 25 percent offer. Boeing said it would give each worker $6,000 for approving the deal, double a previous offer. It would also reinstate performance bonuses that were set to be cut and increase a company match for employee 401(k) contributions. The rest is the same as the previous offer.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

  • 163 Shares169 Views

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    As Federal Reserve Readies Interest Rate Cut, Risks to Job Market Still Loom

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    The Federal Reserve is poised to lower interest rates this week. Recent jobs data have been a reminder that a soft landing is not yet assured.An object in motion stays in motion. Is a labor market trend that’s well underway any different?That’s the question looming for officials at the Federal Reserve as they try to pull off a feat that has never really been accomplished before: gently cooling an economy that was experiencing rip-roaring inflation without tanking the job market in the process.So far, the Fed’s attempt at a soft landing has worked out better than just about anyone, including central bankers themselves, expected. Inflation has cooled significantly, with the Consumer Price Index down to 2.5 percent from a peak of 9.1 percent just two years ago. And even with the Fed’s policy interest rate at its highest level in more than two decades, consumer spending has held up and overall growth has continued to chug along.Fed officials are eager to keep it going. That is why all signals suggest that they will lower interest rates at the conclusion of their meeting on Wednesday — and the only real question is whether they will cut them by a typical quarter of a percentage point or by a half percentage point. They are also likely to forecast that they will lower interest rates further before the end of the year, perhaps predicting that they will cut them by a full point from their current 5.33 percent.But even as the Fed turns an important corner on its fight against inflation, real risks remain. And those center on the labor market.Unemployment has been slowly, but steadily, rising. Wage growth has been consistently slowing. Job openings have come down, and hiring rates have come down along with them. And while all of those developments are what the Fed wanted — the point of this exercise was to slow an overheated job market and prevent it from fueling future inflation — central bankers have been clear that they do not want to see it continue.“We do not seek or welcome further cooling in labor market conditions,” Jerome H. Powell, the Fed chair, said in his latest speech.Unemployment and Underemployment RiseThe jobless rate historically jumps during recessions.

    Notes: Unemployment is the share of people actively looking for work; underemployment also includes people who are no longer actively looking and those who work part time but would prefer full-time jobs. Seasonally adjusted.Source: Bureau of Labor StatisticsBy The New York TimesWage Growth Is Cooling SteadilyAfter spiking in 2022, wage gains for rank-and-file workers have been coming down.

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    Year-over-year change in average hourly earnings
    Note: Data is for production and nonsupervisory employees and is not seasonally adjusted.Source: Bureau of Labor StatisticsBy The New York TimesJob Openings Fall, Just as More People Look for ThemAfter years in which jobs were much more plentiful than available workers, that ratio is on the cusp of flipping.

    Data are seasonally adjusted.Source: The Bureau of Labor StatistticsBy The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Hollywood Movie Producers Find a Harder Time Making a Living

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    Corporate consolidation and technology have upended many jobs in recent decades. But few arcs are more surprising than that of the Hollywood producer.In more than three decades as a studio executive and producer, Kevin Misher has worked on some of the most beloved movies in Hollywood, including “Rudy,” “Meet the Parents” and “Public Enemies.”As recently as 2012, his production company, Misher Films, supported three development executives and three assistants. It had a studio deal worth more than $1 million in many years, which allowed it to acquire scripts and hire writers while meeting payroll.But today, even as Mr. Misher continues to produce high-profile movies like “Coming 2 America” and “You People,” as well as television shows, documentaries and podcasts, his company has slimmed down amid the industry’s changing economics. Years often pass between the time producers start a project and the time they are paid. Deals for producers have dried up as studios have sought greater efficiencies. Mr. Misher’s six employees have dwindled to one, along with a partner who earns a portion of his fees.“Those deals sustained you — they were a paycheck,” Mr. Misher said. “They allowed you to make a basic wage while waiting for a payout.”The unraveling of these arrangements has not only made life harder for an accomplished producer like Mr. Misher, whose job is to originate movies by identifying promising material, and to oversee the hundreds or thousands of people involved in writing and filming. It has also hollowed out the field’s middle tier and made it almost impossible for young people to enter the profession.“It starts to self-select for people who come in already with money,” said Mr. Misher, part of a group of more than 100 producers called Producers United, who are seeking more favorable financial terms through discussions with Hollywood studios. “The perspective gets narrower, it isn’t as innovative or diverse.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Boeing Workers Won’t Easily End Their Strike. Here’s Why.

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    The vehemence of workers over wages and other issues caught the company and union leaders off guard.When thousands of Boeing employees rejected a new labor contract, precipitating a strike that began on Friday, they were at odds not just with management but also with the leaders of their union, who backed the proposed deal.Now, any attempt to reach an agreement must take account of the demands of the rank and file of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. What they want — significantly larger pay raises and far more lucrative retirement benefits than their leaders and Boeing agreed to — may be too much for management. But labor experts said the strength of the strike vote — 96 percent in favor — should help the union get a better deal.“Those overwhelming numbers are kind of embarrassing, certainly from a public relations standpoint for the union,” said Jake Rosenfeld, a sociologist who studies labor at Washington University in St. Louis. “But they also simultaneously present the union with leverage when it does resume negotiations.”And Boeing is in a difficult spot after a slowdown in commercial jet production — required by regulators after a panel blew out of a passenger jet fuselage in January — led to big financial losses. A long strike at Boeing’s main production base in the Seattle area would add significantly to the losses and possibly tip its credit rating into junk territory, a chilling development for a company with nearly $60 billion in debt.The federal mediation service said on Friday that the union and Boeing management would resume talks in the coming days.“We’re going to go back to the bargaining table, and bargain for what our members deserve,” Jon Holden, the president of District 751, the part of the machinists’ union that represents most of the workers on strike, said in an interview. “We’ll push this company farther than they ever thought they’d go.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Boeing Workers Walk Off the Job in First Strike Since 2008

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    Thousands of workers who build commercial planes in the Seattle and Portland, Ore., areas rejected a tentative contract recommended by union leaders.Thousands of machinists and aerospace workers walked off the job on Friday, after rejecting a proposal that would have delivered raises and improvements to benefits but fell short of what the union initially sought.Lindsey Wasson for The New York TimesThousands of Boeing workers walked off the job on Friday after rejecting a contract offer from the company, a potentially costly disruption as Boeing tries to increase airplane production after a safety crisis.The strike, the first at Boeing in 16 years, is expected to bring operations to a halt in the Seattle area, home to most of Boeing’s commercial plane manufacturing. The slowdown could also further disrupt the company’s fragile supply chain.Kelly Ortberg, the company’s new chief executive, had urged employees to approve the deal. “A strike would put our shared recovery in jeopardy, further eroding trust with our customers,” he said in a video statement on Wednesday.Boeing plays a substantial role in the U.S. economy. It employs almost 150,000 people across the country — nearly half of them in Washington State — and is one of the nation’s largest exporters. The company, which also makes military jets, rockets, spacecraft and Air Force One, is a global symbol of America’s manufacturing strength.The union said the strike vote passed by 96 percent, well above the two-thirds required to initiate a walkout, after 95 percent rejected the proposed contract.The contract had been agreed upon by union leaders and company management on Sunday after months of talks. It included many gains for workers, but fell short of what the union initially sought. Union leaders had hoped to get bigger raises and other concessions from the company, but said it was still “the best contract we’ve negotiated in our history.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Harris Economic Plan Focuses on Prices, a Key Vulnerability

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    Vice President Kamala Harris has been balancing the challenges of defending “Bidenomics” and charting her own course on the economy.As Vice President Kamala Harris unveiled her economic plans in recent weeks, former President Donald J. Trump has accused her of being a Marxist, a communist and a socialist.When they meet on Tuesday night for their only scheduled presidential debate, Ms. Harris will have the opportunity to rebut those claims and confront Mr. Trump about his record of managing the U.S. economy.She will also lay out her vision, which has been challenging as she tries to defend “Bidenomics” and demonstrate that she has a plan to chart a new course amid widespread economic discontent among many Americans who are struggling with high prices and other affordability issues.In a compressed presidential campaign, Ms. Harris indicated that she would continue many of President Biden’s policies, which aim to raise taxes on companies and punish them for price gouging, while also trying to strike a more business-friendly tone. In some cases, such as her embrace of ending taxation of tips, the vice president has even shown a willingness to adopt the policies put forward by Mr. Trump.How Ms. Harris would ultimately govern if elected will depend largely on the makeup of Congress, but her initial suite of proposals — from taxes to trade to child care — suggests that she would take the economy in a vastly different direction than her Republican opponent.Cost of LivingPerhaps Ms. Harris’s biggest political vulnerability is the run-up in prices that occurred during the Biden administration. Mr. Trump has repeatedly blamed the vice president for causing inflation to surge after the coronavirus pandemic, a phenomenon that stemmed from a mix of factors such as supply chain issues, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and repeated bursts of fiscal stimulus to keep families and businesses afloat. The higher cost of goods initially hurt Mr. Biden when he was running against Mr. Trump, and Ms. Harris is now facing many of the same concerns from Americans who are feeling negative about a relatively strong economy.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Will Automation Replace Jobs? Port Workers May Strike Over It.

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    A contract covering longshore workers on the East and Gulf Coasts will expire at the end of September, but talks have been stalled over the use of equipment that can function without human operators.When a dockworkers’ union broke off contract talks with management in June, raising the likelihood of a strike at more than a dozen ports on the East and Gulf Coasts that could severely disrupt the supply chain this fall, it was not over wages, pensions or working conditions. It was about a gate through which trucks enter a small port in Mobile, Ala.The International Longshoremen’s Association, which has more than 47,000 members, said it had discovered that the gate was using technology to check and let in trucks without union workers, which it said violated its labor contract.“We will never allow automation to come into our union and try to put us out of work as long as I’m alive,” said Harold J. Daggett, the union’s president and chief negotiator in talks with the United States Maritime Alliance, a group of companies that move cargo at ports.The I.L.A., which represents workers at economically crucial ports in New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia and Texas, has long resisted automation because it can lead to job losses.Longshoremen have grim memories of how past innovation reduced employment at the docks. Shipping containers, introduced in the 1960s, allowed ports to move goods with fewer workers. “You don’t have to pay pensions to robots,” said Brian Jones, a foreman at the Port of Philadelphia, who said he’d vote for a strike if it came to it. He began working at the port in 1974, when bananas from Costa Rica were unloaded box by box. Asked why he was still working at 73, Mr. Jones said, “I like the action, and the money doesn’t hurt.”Workers throughout the economy are worried that technology will eliminate their jobs, but at the ports it threatens one of the few blue-collar jobs that can pay more than $100,000. The United States has done less to automate port operations than countries like China, the Netherlands and Singapore. But the technology is now advancing more quickly, especially on the West Coast.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Has the Spread of Tipping Reached Its Limit? Don’t Count on It.

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    Americans are being asked to tip more often and in more places than ever before: at fast food counters and corner stores, at auto garages and carwashes, even at self-checkout kiosks. That has rankled many customers and divided both employers and tipped workers.It may soon get worse. Both major-party presidential candidates have embraced proposals to eliminate income taxes on tips, a move that would, in effect, subsidize tipping and prompt more businesses to rely on it.Economists across the political spectrum have panned the tax idea, arguing that it is unfair — favoring one set of low-wage workers over others — and could have unintended consequences. Even some tipped workers and groups that represent them are skeptical, worrying that over the long term the policy could result in lower pay.But the debate alone underscores how service-sector workers have emerged from the pandemic as an economically and politically potent force. The spread of tipping in recent years was, in part, a result of the intense demand for workers, and the leverage it gave them. The presidential candidates’ dueling proposals signal that they see the nation’s roughly four million tipped workers as a constituency worth wooing.“I do think it’s a reflection of this change in which people are finally hearing and recognizing that these workers matter,” said Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, an advocacy organization. “Tipped workers had never seen their needs named in any way by any presidential candidate, ever.”Ms. Jayaraman isn’t a fan of the tax exemption idea, though she is optimistic that the attention being paid to the issue could lead to policies she considers more important. One is the elimination of the subminimum wage, which allows businesses in some states to pay workers as little as $2.13 an hour as long as they receive enough in tips to bring them up to the full minimum wage.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More