Boeing machinists OK new contract by huge margin
SEATTLE - Striking Boeing machinists approved a new contract offer by an overwhelming margin of 74 percent, union officials said late Saturday.
The vote ends a 57-day strike that began Sept. 6. Workers will go back to work late Sunday, under terms of the agreement.
Union members flocked to union halls Saturday to vote on the new contract offer hammered out in recent talks between the union, the company and federal mediators. Machinists walked off the job after rejecting earlier proposals from Boeing, forcing the airplane maker to close its commercial jet factories.
Union leaders say the new contract protects more than 5,000 factory jobs and includes a bonus and 15 percent pay raise over four years. They recommended that the roughly 27,000 union members accept the offer.
"The revisions ... provide job security to over 5,000 members that Boeing otherwise could have replaced with vendors and contractors inside the factory gates," the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said in a statement.
The union vote to accept the offer ends an eight-week labor standoff that has eroded Boeing's profits and delayed deliveries of its commercial aircraft, including its long-postponed 787 jetliner.
The workers at plants in Washington state, Oregon and Kansas have foregone thousands of dollars in pay since the strike began.
Now that the contract has been approved, They will return to work starting Sunday night.
Chicago-based Boeing and the union agreed to the proposed contract late Monday after five days of negotiations with a federal mediator in Washington, D.C. Major sticking points included job security and health benefits.
The vote ends a 57-day strike that began Sept. 6. Workers will go back to work late Sunday, under terms of the agreement.
Union members flocked to union halls Saturday to vote on the new contract offer hammered out in recent talks between the union, the company and federal mediators. Machinists walked off the job after rejecting earlier proposals from Boeing, forcing the airplane maker to close its commercial jet factories.
Union leaders say the new contract protects more than 5,000 factory jobs and includes a bonus and 15 percent pay raise over four years. They recommended that the roughly 27,000 union members accept the offer.
"The revisions ... provide job security to over 5,000 members that Boeing otherwise could have replaced with vendors and contractors inside the factory gates," the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said in a statement.
The union vote to accept the offer ends an eight-week labor standoff that has eroded Boeing's profits and delayed deliveries of its commercial aircraft, including its long-postponed 787 jetliner.
The workers at plants in Washington state, Oregon and Kansas have foregone thousands of dollars in pay since the strike began.
Now that the contract has been approved, They will return to work starting Sunday night.
Chicago-based Boeing and the union agreed to the proposed contract late Monday after five days of negotiations with a federal mediator in Washington, D.C. Major sticking points included job security and health benefits.