With a contract deadline creeping up in mid-June, Lockheed Martin machinists in Fort Worth voted yesterday to ratify a new labor agreement that delivers multi-year pay increases and a $6,000 ratification bonus for shop-floor workers. The deal closes out months of bargaining and covers employees who assemble and support the F-35 program at the Fort Worth plant, along with IAM members at other test sites.
Roughly 4,000 members cast votes to approve the agreement, which the district's bargaining committee had unanimously backed going into yesterday, according to Fort Worth Report. District 776's Doyle Huddleston told the outlet the team walked away feeling it had delivered what members asked for at the table. Fort Worth Report also noted the timing: the vote landed just as the prior contract was closing in on its expiration date.
The International Association of Machinists outlined the economics in its own announcement, describing what it called historic general wage hikes: scheduled increases of 6.0%, 4.5%, 4.5%, 4.0%, and 4.0%, along with the $6,000 ratification bonus, enhanced retirement provisions, more vacation, and new protections against mandatory overtime. The agreement extends to IAM members at Edwards Air Force Base in California and Naval Air Station Patuxent River in Maryland and, according to the union, takes effect at midnight today and runs through June 15, 2031, per IAM.
What It Means For Fort Worth
The F-35 program’s footprint reaches far past the gates of the Fort Worth plant, with the program and its industrial partners saying it supports about 254,000 direct and indirect jobs through roughly 1,800 suppliers spread across 48 states and Puerto Rico. That scale is part of why the Fort Worth line is treated as a cornerstone of the local aerospace and defense supply chain, according to Lockheed Martin.
The plant’s importance was underscored in May, when it secured a roughly $879 million Pentagon order to produce weapons-hardware for F-35s, a contract the $879 million Pentagon order will keep the line busy into the next decade. For local machinists, locking in raises and benefits on a marquee program like that is no small thing.
How Talks Unfolded
Formal negotiations kicked off in late March and played out over multiple bargaining sessions and member town halls, according to industry coverage. Defense Daily and union communications reported that the IAM bargaining team went through extensive prep work before ever sliding a recommended package across the table to rank-and-file members. Union leaders later framed the outcome as a deal that holds the line on quality-of-life gains while layering on significant pay and retirement improvements.
With the contract now ratified, members are set to receive the ratification bonus and begin moving up the scheduled wage ladder as the agreement takes effect tonight. Union officials cast the vote as a win not only for the workforce but for the broader Fort Worth economy that depends on the F-35 line. Company spokespeople had not issued a public statement at the time of the union’s announcement, according to IAM.
