Boeing’s 27,000 Machinists could be back at work as soon as Monday if a majority of union members approve a new contract deal hammered out by union and company negotiators.

Workers have been off the job for nearly two months and many are happy that the union and the aerospace company have come up with a proposed contract. Union members will vote Saturday on the proposal. If they approve it, they will start collecting paychecks and benefits next week.

But the deal for a four-year contract, while likely to be approved by union members because of the union’s endorsement, doesn’t please some Boeing workers.

“This contract is not as good as the one that we rejected in September,” said Ruth Edwards, who picketed outside Boeing’s Auburn parts plant Tuesday morning.

“For all the time we’ve spent out here, we should be getting something much better,” said the 24-year Boeing veteran. “It looks like the union leadership has just thrown us under the bus again.”

The new deal, while offering a 15 percent raise over four years and $8,000 in bonus payments over three years and marginally enhanced retirement benefits, doesn’t include the productivity bonuses that Boeing’s rejected September offer did, she said.

Boeing’s September offer included a provision for productivity incentive pay that could award Machinists up to 20 days’ extra pay annually beginning in 2011 if they met or exceeded productivity targets.

Edwards argued that incentive has faithfully produced results for nonunion employees in good times and bad.

Lon Westover, another striking worker, agreed with Edwards.

“The first offer was pretty damn good in my book,” he said. “This isn’t a real improvement.”

The two, both of whom had voted for Boeing’s September contract, said they won’t vote against acceptance despite their belief that the strike didn’t wring enough from the company to make it worthwhile.

“It’s time to stop the bleeding,” said Westover.

But fellow striker Don LeBlanc of Federal Way said he thought the strike was worth the two months of joblessness.

“I think the progress they made on job security was worth striking,” he said. “I haven’t had a chance to read all the small print of the contract yet, but the union is recommending it.”

Union members will vote at three sites from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday. Those sites are Green River Community College in Auburn, the union’s District 751 headquarters near Boeing Field and the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe.

Union officials will count the votes Saturday night. A tally is expected before 9 p.m.

A simple majority vote is needed to ratify the contract. In September, union members rejected Boeing’s “best and final offer” by an 80 percent vote. Eighty-seven percent voted to strike.

That strike was delayed for three days while the company and the union tried last ditch bargaining in Florida, but that meeting produced no new proposal.

Boeing lost about $100 million a day in delayed airliner sales when the strike shut down all production and 27,000 Machinists hit the picket lines.

The company today begins serious negotiations with its other major union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace. SPEEA represents more than 20,000 engineers and technical workers. Their contract expires Dec. 1.

SPEEA officials aren’t optimistic that those talks will lead to an agreement. Like the Machinists, the engineers and technical workers are concerned about stemming the outflow of work to foreign countries and non-Boeing contractors.

The Machinists’ proposed contract includes job security protections for assembly line workers who receive and distribute parts from vendors.

The union feared those members’ jobs were in jeopardy if Boeing began having vendors deliver the parts directly to the assembly line.

John Gillie: 253-597-8663

blogs.thenewstribune.com/business

Contract details

Here are some highlights of the proposed Machinists union four-year labor contract with Boeing:

COMPENSATION

General wage increases

First year – 5 percent

Second year – 3 percent

Third year – 3 percent

Fourth year – 4 percent

Lump Sum Payments

First year – 10 percent (of previous year’s earnings) or $5,000, whichever is greater

Second year – $1,500

Third year – $1,500

PENSION benefits upon retirement

Effective Jan. 1, 2009 – $81 per year of service

Effective Jan. 1, 2012 – $83 per year of service

HEALTH CARE

Boeing retreated from its takeaways and cost shifting in medical and benefits and reverted to the 2005 contract levels. This means the medical cost structure and benefits remain the same through 2012.

RETIREE MEDICAL

Went back to the 2005 language – eliminating language that would have been detrimental to retirees currently on retiree medical.

DURATION

Four years, expiring Sept. 8, 2012