Boeing Offer Falls Short (Update)

Additionally, cost-of-living adjustments are projected to add 3% to workers' salaries, incentive pay would begin in the contract's third year, and pension payments would rise to $80 monthly for each year of service, up from $70.

On average, the offer will provide employees with $34,000 in additional pay over three years, Kight said.

On Thursday, Boeing also withdrew a proposal to eliminate retiree health care benefits for future hires who retire before age 65, and it withdrew a proposed contract change regarding facilities management subcontracting.

But the company did not make major alterations in contract language that allows it to continue to increase outsourcing as needed. "We had good discussions about that language," Kight said. "That was deemed satisfactory to us, the current language. With some process improvements made at (the union's) request, we've made proposals that don't change that."

So far, IAM leaders have not commented publicly on the offer, except to say that it is 300 pages long and they are "reviewing it line by line to see all changes and how they impact our members."

The company's plan to cease negotiating six days before the contract vote is an unusual one, since contract negotiations often result in last-minute settlements, as a ticking clock tends to bring out the compromise in people. Still, Kight rejected a reporter's suggestion that the company is "going around the union" saying "We have responded in very significant and substantial ways to what they have proposed to us."