The Boeing Co. and its Machinists union will return to negotiations this Thursday, according to the labor group’s Web site.
The Machinists have been on strike against Boeing since Sept. 6. Negotiators for Boeing and the union will meet with a federal mediator in Washington D.C. on Thursday. The strike will continue until a new contract agreement can be reached.
Arthur R. Rosenfeld, director for the U.S. Federal Meiation and Conciliation Service sent out a press statement calling the ongoing strike “a priority matter for this agency.” Rosenfeld said that he notified Boeing and the Machinists that negotiations were to reconvene Thursday.
The union represents about 27,000 members. The Machinists overwhelmingly rejected Boeing’s three-year contract offer in early September saying the deal fell short in terms of health care, wages, pension and job security.
The Machinists and Boeing agreed Oct. 8 to return to the table for the first time since the strike began. But talks, which revolved around job security issues, broke down just a few days later.
On Monday, leaders for the Machinists released a statement on negotiations resuming.
“We hope this meeting marks a major step forward to resolve this strike. The Union will continue to do everything possible to bargain a contract that addresses the concerns our members have identified,” union leaders wrote on the Machinists’ Web site Monday.
Boeing reports its third quarter earnings Wednesday. The company also is expected to provide investors with an assessment of the strike’s impact on production as well as a forecast for the remainder of the year.
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