P.M. BRIEFING : McDonnell Douglas Teamsters Overwhelmingly OK 3-Year Pact

Teamsters at McDonnell Douglas Corp.’s Southern California plants ratified a 3-year labor contract after seven months of negotiation, a spokesman for the aerospace company said today.

“I just got word this morning,” Jim Reed said from the aerospace company’s corporate headquarters in St. Louis. He said the vote took place Sunday.

The contract, covering 250 Teamsters from Local 692, was approved by a vote of 156 to 7. The Teamsters International had sanctioned a strike to occur as early as today.

Local 692 represents truck drivers, chauffeurs and railroad freight handlers whose wages have averaged about $15 an hour. Members carry and unload parts and major aerospace components to the corporation’s Douglas Aircraft Co. facilities in Long Beach, Torrance and Carson, and McDonnell Douglas Space Systems in Huntington Beach.

Douglas spokesman Don Hanson said the pact is similar to a contract the company signed in December with its machinists union. That contract provides a 5 1/2% pay raise in the first year and 3% increases in each of the second and third years. It also provides for a 4% annual lump-sum bonus for each worker, based on the worker’s total yearly wage.