For the second time in three years, members of Boeing Co.'s largest union have voted to support a strike that would halt work on its airplane production lines.
However, the union agreed to extend its contract for 48 hours and continue negotiating at the request of Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and a federal mediator. Jim Proulx, a Boeing spokesman, said company and union negotiators would meet together with a federal mediator at an undisclosed time and location Thursday.
Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers were originally set to walk out at 12:01 a.m. today to man picket lines at several Boeing facilities, including the giant plant in Everett, Wash., where Boeing workers assemble planes ranging from the 737 to the delay-plagued 787 Dreamliner.
The union's chief negotiator Mark Blondin said it was worth one more try to reach agreement at the bargaining table without a strike.
"We have told you all along that our job as negotiators is to negotiate a contract that is acceptable to you, not to negotiate a strike," Blondin told 100 shop stewards and others who had been chanting "strike, strike, strike" after the extension was announced.
"If we can't do it in 48 hours, brother, it's on," Blondin said.
If Boeing's 27,000 machinist union workers do strike, the greater financial blow to Chicago-based Boeing increases the longer they are off the job. Boeing was already struggling to keep pace with orders lodged during the recent record-breaking boom in aircraft sales, analysts said.
In 2005, a dispute over retirement benefits prompted Boeing's machinists to stop work for nearly a month. A strike of similar length this year would heighten the risk of additional costly delays to three aircraft in development at Boeing: the 787 Dreamliner, which is already 18 months late; a revamp of the decades-old 747 jumbo jet; and a new 777 freighter, which began test flights earlier this summer.
"In our opinion, a short strike would not be a serious problem because the lost revenues and profits could be recouped next year," wrote Michael Derchin, aerospace analyst with FTN Midwest Securities Corp., in a Sept. 3 research report. "A longer one could have serious consequences for Boeing and the industry."
Boeing officials had sought to avoid a strike, even launching an advertising and public relations blitz in an effort to dissuade workers from voting for the walk out.
While Boeing met many of the union's demands, it refused to compromise on the issue of outsourcing. The union had sought to revoke language from the 2002 contract that enabled Boeing to shift much of the design and construction work traditionally done in-house to supply partners.
The move enabled Boeing to cut its construction costs sharply on the 787, but resulted in costly delays when suppliers struggled to keep pace with an aggressive production schedule or meet Boeing's quality standards for the ground-breaking new plane.
Boeing's unions are concerned they will lose thousands of jobs over the next decade as Boeing creates successors to two aircraft largely built by its employees now: the 737, its popular narrow-body jet, and the larger 777.
"This has been a long-standing concern," said aviation consultant Scott Hamilton. "Clearly, they're looking at the prospects for the next airplane . . . and are concerned even more jobs will be outsourced."
jjohnsson@tribune.com
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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