Lockheed Martin, union reach tentative deal

Defense contractor Lockheed Martin has announced it’s reached a tentative deal with the machinists union to end a nine-week strike at three facilities, the New York Times reported.

On April 23, about 3,600 Lockheed workers in Fort Worth, Texas, Edwards Air Force Base in California and the Naval Air Station in Patuxent River, Md., went on strike rather than accept the company’s contract offer, the Associated Press reported.

According to the Fort Worth Star Telegram, the union rejected the offer because it changed health care options for employees and did not include a traditional pension for new workers.

A federal mediator led talks between the company and the union from Wednesday through Saturday of this week, the New York Times reported. Lockheed revised its offer based on those discussions, Greg Karol, Lockheed’s vice president of Labor Relations, said in a statement.

“Lockheed Martin’s revised offer will be unanimously recommended for acceptance by the union bargaining committee to the membership at the ratification vote early next week,” Karol said, according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram.

Details of the proposed contract won’t be released until union members are briefed on the deal, the New York Times reported.

Lockheed’s Fort Worth factory builds F-35 and F-16 fighter jets, the New York Times reported. Lockheed has been able to continue building the planes, though at a slower rate, by using salaried workers and hiring 450 temporary employees.

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