Tentative deal to end Boeing strike

A spokesman for federal mediators says a tentative settlement has been reached to end a strike that has shut down Boeing’s commercial airplane operations since Sept. 6.

That shutdown had an impact on the Vought plant in North Charleston which produces the fuselage of the Boeing 787. According to the Charleston Business Journal, Vought laid off 50 workers last week in addition to the 65 it let go earlier in the year.
   
Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service spokesman John Arnold says, “We have a tentative agreement.“
   
Francis “Frank” Larkin, a spokesman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in Washington, D.C., told The Associated Press the deal was reached Monday evening.
   
Boeing spokesman Tim Healy in Seattle said he could not immediately confirm the report.
   
The apparent breakthrough came on the fifth day of talks at the federal mediation headquarters in the nation’s capital.
   
There was no immediate word on terms, but the main stumbling block had been job security.