Boeing Machinists union elects new president

Boeing's local Machinists union - which represents roughly 33,000 workers in the plane-maker's Puget Sound-area facilities - has elected a new president.

Members of the International Association of Machinists District 751 voted Tuesday to nominate and elect Jason Chan to serve as the union's president for the next two years, finishing out the term of former IAM District 751 President Jon Holden.

Holden unexpectedly stepped down in March to take on a new role at the union's umbrella organization focused on training and apprenticeship programs. That left open a crucial position in one of the most influential unions in the aerospace industry.

In 2014, when Holden was elected as president of the District 751 union, he was considered a change agent and tasked with restoring union members' trust after a controversial contract vote. Under threats from Boeing that the company would move future work out of Washington state, union members agreed in a last-minute vote to a contract that eliminated their pension, increased healthcare costs and kept wages practically stagnant for eight years.

Chan, a former wing mechanic at Boeing's Renton facility, won't represent a significant leadership shift. He has worked for the union for eight years and served as Holden's chief of staff since 2021.

He stood beside Holden during the union's negotiations with Boeing in 2024 and the nearly two-month strike that fall that resulted in what Chan called the "most successful contract we've ever achieved."

Looking back on that time, Chan said he wouldn't do anything differently.

"I'm very proud of what we did, and what the members were able to do by standing together," Chan said in an interview Wednesday.

Chan, 49, was the only person nominated to fill Holden's former role at District 751's membership meeting Tuesday. Because of that, he was nominated and elected on the same day. If other candidates had been nominated, the union would have held a vote in June.

Chan started at Boeing in 2008 as a wing mechanic on the 737 program in Renton and worked for the company for 10 years. He started working for the union in 2018 as an organizer, then served as a business representative in Boeing's Auburn facility, before joining Holden's team as chief of staff in 2021.

He's been a union supporter since his first day on the job, recalling that on his first night on the factory floor, a union steward invited him to lunch and asked him to attend the local lodge meeting.

"When I walked in the door, I was greeted and welcomed with open arms," Chan said. "I felt in that moment I had 30,000 brothers and sisters I didn't know about. As I kept coming to meetings, and I learned how it is that we have the pay and benefits that we have, I wanted to help provide that for other families."

He's been involved in two major strikes since joining the company: first as a rank-and-file member in 2008 and then in 2024 as Holden's chief of staff. He also vividly remembers the controversial 2013 vote where he signed away his pension.

He sympathizes with those workers who still hoped to restore the pension in the most recent contract negotiations, something that caused a divide in membership as the union voted on several contract proposals that might have ended the strike. In the end, the contract did not restore the pension but did increase retirement security with more 401(k) benefits.

"At a certain point, we had to pivot," Chan said of the negotiations at the time. "The members, at that point, you could feel that they were looking to get back to work."

As the contract neared expiration in 2024, union leadership shocked some members by endorsing a deal from Boeing that members said fell far short of their demands.

Chan defended that decision Wednesday, saying that the bargaining committee got to "the best deal and contract we could have, short of a strike." Then, "we put the decision in members' hands. … I would not change a thing," he said.

Looking ahead to the next contract, Chan expects wages, retirement security, time off and work-life balance will be at the forefront of negotiations. But it's too soon to know exactly what the union will seek; that's largely up to the membership, Chan said.

A Boeing spokesperson said Wednesday that we look forward to working with Jason and congratulate him on his new leadership role.

Boeing as a company is in a significantly better place than it was in 2024, when it was still reeling from a panel blowout that January that slowed 737 MAX production and reignited scrutiny of its manufacturing practices. The blowout slowed the company's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and, before that, two fatal 737 MAX crashes in 2018 and 2019.

The 2024 strike, which halted production in Renton, Everett and other local factories where machinists produce parts for the planes, badly strained Boeing's finances.

When the contract expires in 2028, Chan doesn't think workers will have any less leverage than they did during Boeing's vulnerable 2024. "As long as everyone sticks together," he said, "it's about solidarity, and it's about unity."

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This story was originally published April 29, 2026 at 11:34 PM.