The Boeing Company and the union representing its machinists reached a tentative agreement Monday night on a new four-year contract that could end a 52-day strike, the union said.þþThe International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers notified members about the agreement in an e-mail message.þþScott Carson, the president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, called the tentative agreement an “outstanding offer that rewards employees for their contributions to our success while preserving our ability to compete.”þþThe union, which represents 27,000 Boeing workers in Washington State, Oregon and Kansas, walked off the job on Sept. 6. Negotiations, which were held only briefly during the strike, resumed last week in Washington, D.C. with assistance from a federal mediator.þþThe union told members it would release full details on its Web site on Tuesday, but said the new contract would limit the amount of work that outside companies can perform in Boeing plants, an important union demand. The tentative agreement also is a year longer than the machinists’ previous pact. þþThe union said the tentative agreement had the unanimous endorsement of its negotiating committee. A vote to ratify the pact vote will take place in three to five days, with a simple majority of those voting required for approval.þþUnion leaders, in the e-mail message, said they had gained “important and substantial improvements” over a contract proposal made before Labor Day, which Boeing had called its “best and final offer.”þþBefore the strike, Boeing had offered the union an 11 percent raise over three years, while the union sought a 13 percent raise over that same period. The average machinist earns about $27 an hour, or $56,000 a year, not including overtime.þþBoeing’s airplane production halted after the strike began. Last week, it said its third quarter net income fell 38 percent because of the strike and other production issues. þþBut Boeing’s chief executive, W. James McNerney Jr., said he was optimistic a deal would be reached soon, based on informal conversations with union leaders.þþ
Source: NY Times
