Union Machinists struck The Boeing Co. at 12:01 a.m. today as last-ditch talks failed to produce a new contract proposal acceptable to union negotiators.

The strike will halt all commercial airplane production at Boeing’s Renton and Everett assembly plants as well as parts production at the Auburn and Frederickson sites. Boeing has been producing about 40 planes a month.

The walkout also will take a toll on the already-delayed first flight of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, now scheduled for November. The fuel-efficient, composite-bodied plane is 15 months behind schedule.

Workers not represented by the Machinists union will continue to report for work, the company said.

In a message to the union’s 27,000 members in the Puget Sound area, Portland and Wichita, Kan., late Friday afternoon, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District President Tom Wroblewski said the new talks weren’t fruitful.

“Despite meeting late into the night and throughout the day, continued contract talks with The Boeing Co. did not address our issues,” Wroblewski told members on the union’s Web site.

“Armed with your strong strike vote, the IAM negotiating committee continues to try and convince the company to meet our members’ demands.”

At Boeing, Commercial Airplane Group President Scott Carson said the two sides had worked diligently over the last two days but couldn’t find enough common ground.

“Unfortunately, the differences were too great to close,” he said in a statement.

Union members had rejected Boeing’s “best and final” offer Wednesday night by an 80 percent margin and authorized a Thursday strike. But union leaders agreed to extend the contract by 48 hours to meet with Boeing negotiators and a federal mediator.

Union members at Wednesday night’s strike delay announcement were upset that the union had backed off, even for 48 hours. Some union workers failed to show up for work Thursday and Friday, and others posted mock picket lines near Boeing plants.

The new talks took place in Orlando, Fla., where the IAM was having a convention.

The strike is the second in a row for the Machinists, who struck for 28 days in 2005. The strike is the seventh for the union since 1948, when workers walked the picket lines for nearly five months.

Gov. Chris Gregoire said she was sorry to see that the new talks had failed.

“It is unfortunate that Boeing and the IAM could not reach a contract settlement acceptable to both parties,” Gregoire said. “I had hoped that the 48-hour extension would give both parties the opportunity to reach a speedy resolution.

Boeing last week had offered the union what it said was an industry-leading package of wage and benefit increases. But union leaders recommended the contract’s rejection, and union members said the offer was insufficient.

That offer included an 11 percent wage increase over three years, up to a 3 percent cost-of-living boost, a $2,500 one-time contract approval bonus and a pension formula increase to $80 per month per year of service.

Union members have been preparing for a strike for months. The union has exhorted them to save money and cut expenditures.

Strikers who walk the picket line will receive strike benefits from the union of $150 a month after the third week of the strike. The strike fund has enough money to pay those benefits for six months or more, the union said.

Wroblewski said he was open to considering new talks.

Boeing knows where to find him, he said – “on the picket line.”

John Gillie: 253-597-8663

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