Machinists at Boeing ratify contract

RENTON, Wash., Dec. 8 (UPI) -- Members of the machinists union at U.S. plane maker Boeing ratified a four-year contract Thursday in what one company official called a "watershed moment."

"Today is one of those days we've changed the way we are going to work in Puget Sound. It's a watershed event," Jim Albaugh, chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a phone interview from Luxembourg.

Seventy-four percent of union members voted to approve the contract that cements final assembly of the 737 MAX in Renton, Wash., The Seattle Times reported. It also grants machinists a $5,000 ratification bonus and wage hikes of 2 percent for each year of the contract.

In addition, a bonus of up to 4 percent is possible if workers meet various production targets.

Union members voted "for jobs, for their future, for the future of this community and for the future of Washington state," said Tom Wroblewski, Local 751 district president of the International Association of Machinists.

The union also agreed to withdraw a grievance filed against the company for sending some work to South Carolina. As a result, the National Labor Relations Board is expected to drop the case, the newspaper said.