Photo Credit: REUTERS/David Ryder

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Over the past two weeks, tens of thousands of rank-and-file workers across the country have been struggling against and rejecting the sellout contracts put forward by their respective companies and union leadership.

Workers at Boeing, Norfolk Southern, and Eaton Aerospace all voted against tentative agreements signed by their union leadership, which offered little concrete improvements to workers’ conditions and, in many cases, would have led to even worse working conditions. Rank and file workers at the United States Postal Service (USPS) have begun to mobilize in opposition to a contract signed by the National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) leaders and USPS which would allow USPS to continue its planned layoffs.

At Boeing, 33,000 workers who have been on strike since September 13th rejected a second pro-company contract put forward by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) and Boeing. They decided to continue the strike and fight for a contract that serves their interests, not the company’s. The proposed contract would have included wage increases that fell short of the demand for a 40% increase and did not include the reinstatement of pensions, which were taken by the company over a decade ago. In rejecting the contract and continuing the strike, Boeing workers have not just struck a blow at Boeing and the IAM bureaucracy, but also at US imperialism. The Biden-Harris administration, seeing the Boeing strike as a threat to military production, has sent US Labor Secretary Julie Su to attempt to end  the strike, something which IAM union leadership has supported.

81% of conductors at Norfolk Southern rejected a tentative agreement between Smart TD leadership and Northfolk Southern. The proposed contract was even worse than the one imposed by a Democratic Party-controlled US congress in 2022, when they banned a rail workers strike and forced a contract on rail workers. The contract would’ve given a 17.5 percent pay increase over four years, even less than the 24 percent forced upon workers by Congress less than two years ago.

At Eaton Aerospace in Jackson, Mississippi, workers who have been on strike for a month voted down a third sellout agreement signed between the UAW and company management. The contract did not address any of the rank-and-file demands, which included pensions, ending the tier system, and reduction of out-of-pocket healthcare costs. The UAW leadership, typical of establishment unions in suppressing democratic decisions, has refused to show the results of the contract vote; likely fearing that it would reveal the true disdain rank-and-file workers had for it.

This week, NALC leadership and USPS signed a tentative agreement. However, almost immediately, rank and file workers have begun to come out against the sellout contract, which if voted in, would give only a 1.3% annual wage increase and pitiful cost of living adjustments. Most notably, the agreement does nothing to attempt to stop USPS’ planned “Delivering for America” program, which will result in several USPS layoffs.

The wave of opposition to sellout contracts signed between union bureaucrats and companies is symbolic of the tenacity of the working class, and something that workers across the country should celebrate. However, these agreements also expose the class-collaborationist nature of union leadership today. To win a contract that serves the interests of the workers and not the companies, the rank and file of these unions have to take the struggle out of the leadership of the union bureaucracy and into their own hands.