Tentative Boeing Contract OKd

Boeing Co. and Machinists Union negotiators, spurred by an unusual move by a federal mediator, agreed to a tentative contract Sunday that could end the 47-day-old strike by thousands of workers in nine states.

After 14 hours of talks that ended about 3:30 a.m., chief Boeing negotiator Larry McKean said that production workers could be back on the job as early as Wednesday at the world’s No. 1 builder of passenger jets.

“At this point we’re looking forward to a favorable vote on this contract and a return to normal operations,” he said.

“This proposal is a substantial improvement” over previous offers, said Tom Baker, president of Seattle-area District Lodge 751, which represents nearly four-fifths of the Boeing workers covered by the Machinists’ contract.

“I feel it will be ratified overwhelmingly,” Baker said. Despite repeated assertions by Boeing officials that there would be no increase in the company’s pre-strike financial offer, Baker said: “There is more money on the table.”

He would give few specifics of the new offer, but he said that it improved pay, medical coverage, overtime requirements and the promotional system.

Negotiators for the union were divided, saying arguments for and against ratification would be presented when members meet to vote on the three-year pact today. But most negotiators are recommending acceptance, Baker said.

The strike, which began Oct. 4, brought production at Boeing to a virtual halt, delaying deliveries to airlines worldwide amid rising concern over aging passenger jets.

Mediator Doug Hammond said he proposed the deal a few hours after talks resumed Saturday for the first time in two weeks. He said that submitting his own recommendation, rather than helping the two sides toward a settlement, was “an unusual and for me a rare step.”