NEW YORK (Reuters) - Machinists at Boeing Co. (BA.N) went on strike early on Friday for the first time in 10 years, after voting to reject the aircraft maker's latest contract offer.þþWith 86 percent of the 18,500 machinists voting for a strike, pickets were put in place at Boeing's factories in the Puget Sound region of Washington state at 12:01 a.m. PDT (3:01 EDT/0701 GMT) when the current contract expired.þþBoeing gave the union ``an insulting, take-away, job-stealing offer,'' Mark Blondin, president of District 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM), told workers at the union's district headquarters in Seattle after the votes were counted on Thursday night.þþ``Both votes were overwhelming,'' said Tom Buffenbarger, president of IAM, whose members build Boeing commercial aircraft used by airlines around the world.þþHe did not give the size of the vote, but the union's Web site said it was 86 percent in favor of a strike. IAM had said its members would walk off the job if a majority rejected the proposal and two-thirds voted to authorize a strike.þþBoeing spokesman Chaz Bickers said the company was disappointed at the outcome. ``No one ever benefits from a strike,'' he said.þþBickers said Boeing would not build any planes during the strike but would focus on supporting its customers.þþBoth sides had been bracing for a strike as the union urged members to reject the company's latest contract offer on Wednesday.þþThe strike comes just as Boeing's commercial aircraft business is booming, with a halt in production jeopardizing profits and giving ground to archrival European jetmaker Airbus, owned by EADS (EAD.PA) and BAE Systems Plc (BA.L).þþThe machinists' last strike, a 10-week walkout in 1995, slowed deliveries of planes and depressed Boeing's earnings.þþStrong demand for Boeing jets -- such as its single-aisle 737, favored by low-cost carriers from Dallas to Delhi -- gave the union an unusually strong hand in the talks this time around.þþBoeing's final offer to machinists in Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, came after almost three months of negotiations.þþThe offer included a 5.5 percent wage increase and pension payments of $66 per month for each year of a retired employee's service, plus as much as $15,400 in lump-sum payments and bonuses. Boeing proposed a separate package for its Wichita, Kansas, employees.þþThe union wants employees in Wichita to get the same deal as other workers and wants better job security for all. It is pushing for higher pension payments and objects to the company's new health-care plan, which it says pushes costs onto workers.þþ
Source: NY Times
