Vote by machinists helps Boeing avoid hiring crunch

[NEW YORK] In clinching a deal with its machinist workers that will keep jetliner manufacturing in the Pacific Northwest, Boeing Co may not only have secured industrial peace until 2024 and brought its pension costs under control - it has also avoided facing a recruitment nightmare.

Thousands of machinists in Seattle and Everett, Washington, and Portland, Oregon, voted by a slim margin to approve a contract extension that guarantees Boeing's new wide- body passenger jet, the 777X, will be built by them in the region. The result was announced late on Friday night.

Had the workers rejected the deal, Boeing was considering 54 alternative locations in 22 US states for a US$10 billion factory that would eventually employ 8,500 people.