Boeing Union Agrees to Delay Strike

Boeing (BA Quote) and the International Association of Machinists are headed back to the bargaining table.

The two sides agreed late Wednesday to extend a Boeing strike deadline for 48 hours -- until 12:01 a.m. Saturday -- after workers voted overwhelmingly to strike. According to the tally, 87% of the voters favored a work stoppage, while 80% rejected the contract offer. The IAM constitution requires separate votes on the two issues.

The extension was sought by federal mediators and Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire. Boeing is now in a position where it must reconsider the proposal it gave the union last week, when it said it had made its best and final offer.

Boeing lead labor negotiator Doug Kight spoke carefully at a late night news conference.

"Our job at this point is to listen to the union," he said. "We put the last contract offer on the table, and we are very interested in understanding from them what are the critical few issues. And we will do that. We will seek to understand and make an assessment of whether there is a path forward."

Asked whether the company had erred in adopting a strategy to make a final offer six days before a contract vote, Kight responded: "It wasn't a strategy. It was a response to the request of our employees." He said workers had repeatedly asked for several days to review a proposal before voting.

In a sense, the next 48 hours will provide the sort of down-to-the wire negotiating window lost to that decision. It is now clear that a strike will follow if the two sides cannot reach an agreeement. That, combined with the overwhelming vote, puts pressure on Boeing to revise its offer. The two sides have agreed to a news blackout during the next two days.