(Reuters) -Boeing presented a new contract offer on Monday to the union representing more than 3,200 striking workers at its St. Louis-area plants, proposing a higher ratification bonus and other revisions in a bid to end the walkout.
The workers — who assemble Boeing's F-15 and F/A-18 fighter jets, the T-7 trainer, munitions and wing sections for its commercial 777X jet at plants in the St. Louis area — have been on strike for more than three months.
The union has been pressing the planemaker for
a contract similar to the one it reached with its Seattle-area workers last year, which included higher retirement plan contributions.
In its revised offer, the planemaker doubled the ratification bonus to $6,000 from about $3,000, while keeping proposed wage increases unchanged at 24% over five years.
Boeing, however, dropped a $1,000 retention bonus from the new offer to provide more cash upfront, and also removed some restricted stock units, the company said.
In a letter to striking workers, Boeing's defense chief Steve Parker said the new deal would raise their average base pay from about $75,000 to $109,000 a year.
Parker also indicated that the workers will be voting on the contract on Wednesday. The IAM did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
If a deal is ratified by Boeing workers, it would bring an end to a feud between the parties, which included multiple rejected offers and saw close involvement of senators like Bernie Sanders.
In Monday's letter, Parker said the company has already hired permanent replacements and is fully staffed in some areas, but pledged that all IAM Local 837 members would be returned to work with no one displaced if the offer is ratified.
(Reporting by Shivansh Tiwary and Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Alan Barona)
