Boeing Machinists Await Company’s Final Offer, but Are Pessimistic

Union officials were pessimistic Friday about avoiding a strike next week as they awaited Boeing Co.’s final offer on a new contract covering 44,000 machinists.

The world’s largest aerospace company gave the union a full proposal about noon Friday, but Tim Flynn, a spokesman for the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said it was not the final offer.

“That’s what we’ll be negotiating from this afternoon,” he said, refusing to release any details. “A cursory look at it suggests there’s quite a distance to go, but we’ll see what happens.”

Union officials said it seems likely that workers will strike Boeing next week, with both sides acknowledging a lack of consensus on major issues.

Mark Blondin, a full-time union representative at Boeing’s Everett, Wash., plant, who spent 17 years as a toolmaker and mechanic, said union members will not compromise on their most important issues: job security, health care, pensions and keeping a traditional workweek.

“Each one of those is a walk issue. All bets are off if they’re not addressed,” Blondin said. “I really firmly believe they’ll walk.”

But company officials remained optimistic that an acceptable settlement could be reached during the final hours.

“We’ve had two objectives since day one of this entire negotiation process: First and foremost, to do what was right for the employees and, secondly, to do what’s right for the company. We feel that the proposal we will put on the table later today will address all of the employees’ concerns,” Boeing spokesman Peter Conte said Friday.

Boeing shares fell 56 cents to close at $43.81 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The union is seeking to preserve jobs, improve medical benefits and increase pensions. The company wants to cut costs through subcontracting, paying less for health benefits and adopting a flexible workweek.

The average machinist at Boeing earns $40,000 a year, not counting benefits or overtime.

The current 44-month contract covers 31,000 workers in Washington state, 1,400 in Portland, Ore., and 11,600 in Wichita, Kan. Boeing employs about 210,000 people worldwide and is the biggest private employer in Southern California. Most of its Southland-based unionized workers are members of the United Auto Workers.

The company was expected to make its final offer to the union late Friday. Over the weekend, union members will get copies of the offer and will be able to meet with union officials for briefings and question-and-answer sessions.

Union members will vote Wednesday on whether to accept or reject the offer as well as whether to authorize a strike. The current contract expires at midnight Wednesday, and a strike could begin immediately if two-thirds of the machinists vote to authorize it.

Boeing’s engineers said Friday they would support the machinists if they strike, vowing to reject management requests to do work normally done by the machinists.

While the union of 25,000 engineers and technical workers said it can’t strike itself, it is due to start contract talks of its own on Oct. 24. Like the machinists, the engineers said they want more job protections as the world’s biggest aircraft builder cuts its work force more than 20% by the end of next year.