UAW, Boeing Sign Tentative Pact

The United Auto Workers said Monday that it has reached a tentative four-year contract with Boeing Co. covering 3,200 workers at four plants in California and Oklahoma.

The deal comes one day before the expiration of the previous contract for the employees, who build engines for NASA’s space shuttle and commercial aircraft components for Boeing and work on various missile and electronics projects.

Boeing is the largest private employer in Southern California.

If ratified, the contract would run through May 2003 and give workers higher wages and pensions, better health care and other improvements, the union said in a statement.

“This is an excellent agreement which provides appropriate recognition for our members who work in the most sophisticated and demanding areas of the aerospace and defense industries,” UAW President Stephen Yokich said.

The deal covers workers at facilities near Simi Valley; Fairmont; McAlester, Okla.; and Tulsa, Okla.

Union members will meet Sunday to vote on ratifying the contract.

On Monday, Boeing shares fell $1.63 to close at $43 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Boeing still faces a tough round of talks later this month with its 51,000-member machinists union, its biggest union, which has struck twice in 10 years.

The company said last year that it would cut as many as 48,000 of its 232,600 jobs as airplane orders from struggling Asian nations dwindled, slashing its revenue.

But the Seattle-based aircraft maker announced several new orders at last week’s Paris Air Show. However, it also signed a $1.9-billion deal with Singapore Airlines for 10 of its 777 jetliners, in part by agreeing to buy some of rival Airbus Industrie’s jets in the Asian carrier’s fleet.

Some analysts said that agreement marked a retreat from its recent commitment to profitability over market share.