Boeing Reaches Strike Compromise; Sets Growth Goals

With plane deliveries cut in half and the value of the company down by an estimated $5 billion, Boeing Co. has worked out a compromise that ends the 40-day-old strike by its engineers and technical workers. The agreement -- ratified Mar. 19 -- gives the 22,350 members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace raises of between 9% and 10% over the life of the three-year contract. The raises were lower than Boeing had previously offered, but employees can earn $2,500 in cash bonuses and gained domestic partner coverage in the health-care plan. (Boeing had opposed that new feature and also had sought to increase deductibles and add co-pays.) Boeing hopes the pact will help it attain plane deliveries of nearly 500 over the next 12 months -- a production goal set before the strike began.