Boeing engineers in agree to contract

Boeing Co. defense engineers in Wichita, Kansas, agreed to a three-year contract they rejected just weeks ago as union negotiators had little leverage because members had voted against going on strike.

"With the lack of a strike authorization, I think the company interpreted that as a green light to hold firm on their current contract offer," said Bob Brewer, a spokesman for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.

The union rejected the planemaker's first offer by more than 88 percent in a Feb. 5 vote and declined the revised offer by about 68 percent a month later. The majority of voting members failed to give permission for a strike in the March 5 decision. Members gave negotiators the option to agree to the contract in the latest round of talks.

The union represents 700 engineers in Wichita who work on aerial refueling tankers for Italy and Japan, the Australian Wedgetail surveillance planes and other military programs for Chicago-based Boeing, the world's No. 2 defense contractor.

The engineers "knew going into additional talks after the last vote that there may be a possibility that the team would go ahead and accept the current offer," Brewer said in a phone interview. "With absolutely no movement on behalf of the company, that's exactly where the talks took us today."

The engineers have negotiated with Boeing since Nov. 17 and have worked under a contract extension since Dec. 5.

The company presented its "best and final offer," Boeing spokesman Jarrod Bartlett said in a phone interview.

"We are just very pleased that we can now move forward for our customers and for our employees," Bartlett said.