Boeing union to vote Saturday on strike settlement

SEATTLE -- Boeing's Machinist union says it will vote on a tentative four-year labor pact on Saturday.

The process could end an eight-week strike against the Chicago-based airplane maker.

The strike, now in its 53rd day, has shut Boeing's commercial jet factories, cut into profits and delayed airplane deliveries.

Boeing spokesman Tim Healy said today that company and union officials would meet soon to set a schedule for workers to return to their jobs if the contract is ratified.

Workers were given two weeks to report after the end of the last strike in 2005, but Healy said the company feels "that's probably too long."

As for the timing of the ratification vote, he said that it's the union process and that Boeing wants to get employees back to work as soon as possible.