Boeing workers scrutinize contract

Leaders of Boeing Co.’s striking Machinists union on Thursday published details of a contract offer it says protects more than 5,000 factory jobs, as workers expressed mixed opinions about the tentative deal.

The organization posted the latest changes to the proposal from the airplane maker on its Web site and recommended that the roughly 27,000 union members accept the offer in a vote scheduled for Saturday.

“The revisions … provide job security to over 5,000 members that Boeing otherwise could have replaced with vendors and contractors inside the factory gates,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said in a statement.

A union vote to accept the offer would end an eight-week labor standoff that has eroded Boeing’s profits and delayed deliveries of its commercial aircraft, including its long-postponed 787 jetliner.

The workers at plants in Washington, Oregon and Kansas have forgone thousands of dollars in pay since the strike began. They will return to work starting Sunday night should they ratify the contract, according to a deal reached Thursday.

Chicago-based Boeing and the union agreed to the proposed contract late Monday after five days of negotiations with a federal mediator in Washington, D.C. Major sticking points included job security and health benefits.

The Machinists walked off the job Sept. 6 after rejecting earlier proposals from Boeing, forcing the airplane maker to close its commercial jet factories. The strike, now in its 55th day, is the union’s fourth against Boeing in two decades.

The revised contract specifies that areas where parts and other goods are received from suppliers must be staffed by Boeing employees, including union workers. It also outlines plans for retraining or reassigning union workers for jobs at the same level if they are affected by changes implemented by Boeing.

The agreement, which was extended to four years from the three made in the final pre-strike offer, says some forklift operators and other workers will not be laid off or removed from their jobs due to the company’s delivery and tracking of parts and supplies.

Building maintenance jobs may be outsourced, however, as current employees leave by attrition.

The deal also preserves the union’s current medical benefits through 2012. The union said Boeing had sought to shift more of that cost to workers.