Boeing, Machinists Reach Tentative Pact

Boeing Co. and machinist union negotiators reached tentative agreement on a new three-year contract that would provide a pay raise and increased benefits to nearly 2,200 employees in California and Florida. The company and representatives of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 725 reached the proposed agreement hours after returning to the bargaining table. Union members rejected an earlier proposal, which Boeing had called its “best and final offer” but contained smaller increases in pension and medical benefits. Boeing officials did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Union members were scheduled to vote on the proposed agreement Friday. It would apply to about 1,500 workers at Boeing’s Huntington Beach plant, plus a smaller number in Torrance, and at launch facilities at Vandenberg Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral, Fla. Under the agreement, employees’ pay would rise 3% in the first and second years of the contract and 4% in the final year. The agreement also would boost pension payments to $48 per month for each year of service, up $3 from Boeing’s previous offer. Despite Boeing’s concessions, the proposal doesn’t equal a contract won in separate negotiations by Boeing’s 44,000 machinist union members in Washington, Oregon and Kansas. Those workers will get bigger increases in pay and pension benefits. Boeing is the largest private employer in Southern California.