Boeing, union reach deal to end 53-day strike

Negotiations with a federal mediator started Thursday in Washington, D.C. under a news blackout. It took until Saturday to agree on job security issues and two more days to agree on wages, retirement and medical care, Healy said

The union represents about 25,000 workers in the Seattle area, 1,500 in Gresham, Ore., and 750 in Wichita, Kan. Participants in the talks included IAM President Tom Buffenbarger and General Vice President Rich Michalski.

“I think we’ve addressed all the major concerns that our members have had,” Buffenbarger said by telephone.

A ratification vote on the pact, which was unanimously endorsed by union negotiators, will be held in three to five days. A simple majority is required for approval.

According to a union statement, the deal provides total wage increases of 15 percent over the 4-year life of the contract, compared with a total of 11 percent over three years in Boeing’s last pre-strike offer.

It includes bonuses over the first three years of the contract, pension increases and the preservation of current medical benefits — an issue Boeing had sought to change.

The pact also strengthens provisions for the union to bid against subcontractors for work and includes agreements to protect jobs held by workers such as forklift drivers and to limit vendor deliveries to the shop floor.

The union’s aerospace coordinator and chief negotiator, Mark Blondin, said the sticking point in the last unsuccessful round of talks was Boeing’s insistence on replacing about 2,000 union workers who distribute parts, deliver materials and perform similar tasks with outside suppliers and subcontractors.

Parts and supply delivery to the shop floor has been a sore spot with the union since 2002, when the Machinists voted to reject a contract offer giving subcontractors access to the shop floor for the first time but failed to muster the two-thirds vote required for a strike. As a result, Boeing was able to put the terms into effect without union agreement.

The Machinists sought to remove that provision during their strike in 2005 but settled without winning on that issue.

In addition to the current walkout, the union struck for 28 days strike in 2005, 69 days in 1995 and 48 days in 1989.

The latest walkout began three days after Boeing’s last offer was rejected in early September. Two days of last-ditch talks to avoid a strike failed, and another two-day round of negotiations collapsed Oct. 13. Mediators were involved in both of those efforts.

Separately, Boeing’s contract talks with its union engineers will move into high gear later this week. The company hopes to avoid a second strike, this one by its white-collar union, which represents 21,000 scientists, engineers, manual writers, technicians and other hourly workers.

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