Tentative Agreement To End Boeing Strike

A tentative settlement was reached late Monday to end a machinists' strike that has shut down Boeing Co. commercial airplane operations since Sept. 6, a federal mediation service spokesman confirmed.

The Machinists union said the deal would enhance job security.

Francis "Frank" Larkin, a spokesman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Washington, D.C., told The Associated Press the deal was reached shortly before 9 p.m. EDT Monday, in the fifth day of talks at Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service headquarters in Washington and the 52nd day of the walkout.

The deal was confirmed by mediation service spokesman John Arnold, who told The AP, "We have a tentative agreement."

Boeing spokesman Tim Healy in Seattle said he could not immediately confirm the report.

Mediators called the two sides to the table Thursday under a news blackout.

The main stumbling block had been job security and other top issues included wages, retirement benefits and medical coverage.

According to a statement issued by the union, the settlement "will provide job security for its members and limit the amount of work outside vendors can perform in the workplace."

IAM represents about 25,000 workers in and around Seattle, 1,500 in Gresham, Ore., and 750 in Wichita, Kan. Participants in the talks included IAM President Tom Buffenbarger and General Vice President Rich Michalski.

The union withheld additional details of the agreement pending distribution to the membership, but the statement said it was unanimously endorsed by IAM negotiators and will be submitted for a ratification vote in three to five days. A simple majority is required for approval.

"This tentative agreement is the result of hard work and great sacrifice by many people," the union's aerospace coordinator and chief negotiator, Mark Blondin, said in the statement, "but no one deserves more credit than the workers at Boeing, who conducted themselves with dignity and determination throughout this ordeal.

"On behalf of the entire negotiating committee, I want to say it has been our honor to serve as their representatives."