(SEATTLE) — Boeing Machinists voted overwhelmingly to approve a four-year contract extension.
The union says 74 percent of its members in Kansas, Washington state and Oregon approved the deal. The union represents 28,000 workers including 400 in Wichita.
The contract guarantees aerial refueling work in Wichita, should Boeing decide to keep the plant open. The company is studying whether to close its defense facility in the Air Capital.
Boeing promised that if workers approved the deal, the company would build the new version of the popular 737 in the Puget Sound region. Machinists said they'd drop their allegations that Boeing opened a nonunion 787 assembly plant in South Carolina in retaliation for previous strike. Wichita's Spirit AeroSystems supplies parts for both aircraft.
