Boeing union to vote on deal

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By Tim Klass ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEATTLE | Boeing Co.'s machinists union said it will vote on a tentative four-year labor pact Saturday, a process that could end an eight-week strike against the airplane maker.

The strike, now in its 53rd day, has shut Boeing's commercial jet factories, cut into profits and delayed airplane deliveries.

Boeing spokesman Tim Healy on Tuesday said company and union officials would meet soon to set a schedule for workers to return to their jobs if the contract is ratified. Workers were given two weeks to report after the end of the last strike in 2005, but Mr. Healy said the company feels "that's probably too long."

As for the timing of the ratification vote, "that's their process," he said. "We want to get folks back to work as soon as we can."

It is not clear how long it would take Boeing's commercial aircraft business to return to pre-strike production levels. Boeing representatives said the company will conduct an assessment when work resumes.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, representing 27,000 production workers in Washington state, Oregon and Kansas, went on strike Sept. 6 after rejecting a final contract offer by the company, with major sticking points being job security and health benefits.

The strike is the union's fourth against Boeing in two decades and has cost the Chicago-based airplane maker an estimated $100 million a day in deferred revenue and pushed back scheduled deliveries of its commercial airplanes, including its long-awaited 787 jetliner.

Boeing's chief financial officer, James Bell, said in a conference call last week that the company should be able to resume pre-strike production within two months. "Hopefully, we can do it in a lot less time," he said.

Boeing and machinists union representatives agreed to a proposed labor pact late Monday, with union negotiators unanimously endorsing the deal.

A notice posted on the Web site of Machinists District Lodge 751 in Seattle said voting will be conducted along with the distribution of strike paychecks. The vote count is set for Saturday evening at the union hall with the results to be announced about 8:30 p.m PDT.

Boeing and machinists union representatives said the proposed deal would enhance job security, the thorniest issue in the dispute.