Boeing Workers Accept Deal

Boeing Co. on Monday said that more than 2,800 workers in California, Missouri and Maryland had accepted a three-year contract offer approved by their union last week.

The International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers recommended that members vote for the offer that was made May 18 after about three weeks of negotiations. The previous contract expired Sunday, according to Boeing, the world’s second-biggest defense contractor.

Chief Executive Harry Stonecipher has said the company was improving relations with its labor unions. Boeing has reached three agreements in the last month with unions representing 7,700 workers.

It still is talking with a union that represents 3,400 technical workers in Wichita, Kan., after they rejected Boeing’s first offer in March.

Boeing, which has 157,000 employees, has fired 39,000 people in its commercial-aircraft business since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, when commercial-plane demand plunged.

The new pact covers more than 2,800 workers in St. Louis, St. Charles, Mo., Patuxent River, Md., and China Lake, Calif.

Under the contract, Boeing will not provide health coverage during retirement for anyone hired beginning in 2005, according to Associated Press. The deal calls for wage increases of 3% in the contract’s first and third years, plus a $3,000 signing bonus.

Shares of Chicago-based Boeing rose $1.16 to $44.56 on the New York Stock Exchange.