The Boeing Company and the union representing striking members of its machinists union have agreed to resume negotiations, more than a month after the walkout began, the union announced Wednesday night.þþThe International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers announced the step in e-mail and text messages to its members. þþThe union represents 27,000 workers at Boeing plants in Washington State, Oregon and Kansas. It said the two sides agreed to resume discussions in a meeting Tuesday between union officials and company executives.þþOfficials said talks could resume by this weekend. þþÿWe are interested in exploring whether there is a path forward to resolve the strike,ÿ Doug Kight, Boeing vice president of human resources, said in a statement. ÿThere are a number of issues to resolve, and any agreement must allow us to remain competitive and provide the flexibility to manage our business.ÿþþMachinists walked off the job on Sept. 6 after the company and the union failed to reach an agreement in last-ditch talks held with a mediator in Orlando, Fla. þþBoeing workers voted 80 percent against Boeing’s last contract offer, delivered shortly before Labor Day, and 87 percent in favor of a walkout.þþ“The union will continue to do everything possible to bargain a contract that addresses the concerns our members have identified,” the union said in an e-mail message to its workers.þþThe union said its leaders had continued to meet with the federal mediator during the strike, and held several conversations with Boeing representatives. þþEarlier this week, Scott Carson, the president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told company managers the aircraft maker was willing to hold discussions “when the union focuses on its critical few priorities, and only then can we begin to narrow the wide gap in our positions.”þþThe strike is the second in three years by the machinists’ union. In 2005, workers were on strike at Boeing for 28 days, and many analysts predicted this year’s walkout would last at least a month.þþThe dispute centered on pay and job security issues. Boeing offered union members an 11 percent raise over three years, but wanted to keep the ability to send work to outside contractors.þþThe machinists’ union was seeking a 13 percent pay increase and wants union members to perform tasks that Boeing had given to nonunion employees. þþThe strike has interrupted Boeing’s aircraft production and caused further delays in the development of the Boeing 787, the company’s first new plane in more than a decade. Analysts estimate Boeing has lost $100 million in revenue for each day of the strike, or more than $3 billion since the strike began. þþBoeing, which employed roughly 50,000 machinists at the beginning of the decade, cut their ranks to less than 19,000 after the September 2001 attacks, when it lost half its orders. þþThe average Boeing machinist, who earns about $56,000 a year, receives another $10,200 a year in overtime, according to the company. Including the value of health care and benefits, Boeing’s annual compensation is about $91,500 per machinist, the company says.þþ
Source: NY Times
