Aerospace Union Rejects Pact but Will Return to Job

McDonnell Douglas Corp. engineers, electricians and component assemblers rejected a proposed four-year contract Sunday, but union officials say the 19,700 workers will be on the job today rather than on the picket line.

Even in the wake of the strike authorization vote earlier this month, union leaders said they had no intention of going on strike.

“All we want to do is go back to the bargaining table,” United Aerospace Workers Local 148 President Richard Rios said in Long Beach. “We’re not here to disrupt the company. We’re here to get a good contract.”

Rios said the workers will be on the job as usual this morning. The union’s regional director told the workers he had no authorization for a strike, Rios said.

The pact, which would have given workers a 3% wage increase for the first and second year, and a 4% increase for the third and fourth years, was rejected by 4,433 workers, or 88% of those who voted. Only 643 workers voted for the contract, which, with cost-of-living adjustments, would have increased the hourly base pay from $12.72 to $18.26.