Union says it received Boeing's latest offer

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The largest labor union at Boeing Co (BA.N) said on Thursday it received the company's latest contract offer, but gave no details.

Boeing is hoping to prevent a strike that could cost the company $3 billion a month.

"The union received the company's offer and is currently reviewing it line by line to see all changes and how they impact our members. We will be making a statement later today," the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said in an e-mailed statement.

Boeing, which has planned to make its final offer as early as Thursday, said it would make an announcement soon.

The IAM, which represents 27,000 Boeing employees, mostly in the Seattle area, has already rejected two proposals from the company.

Boeing on Tuesday offered wage increases amounting to 9 percent over three years and said the proposal, on average, would provide employees with $28,000 in additional wages and incentive payments over three years.

The union said on its website that it wants to improve job security "while we have the leverage to get it." The IAM wants Boeing to agree to "no layoffs while subcontractors are on-site doing the work our members can do."

Among the most serious points of contention have included Boeing's proposal to stop offering early-retirement medical coverage for future hires.

Boeing abandoned an earlier effort to put new workers into a defined-contribution retirement plan rather than the traditional Boeing pension fund.

VOTE

Boeing has said that it would put forward its own final offer in time for the U.S. Labor Day weekend so that employees could consider the proposal for several days.

IAM members are due to vote on the contract on September 3, when the current 36-month deal expires. Without a new pact, the IAM could vote to strike as early as September 4.

A strike by the IAM could cost the company $3 billion a month in lost revenue if plane orders are not filled. Boeing's commercial airplanes unit took in $8.6 billion in revenue last quarter, or about $2.9 billion per month.

A strike could further delay Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner, which is key to the company's financial future.

In the latest round of negotiations, Boeing has taken the unusual step of presenting its proposals directly to workers on its website, circumventing the IAM.

The IAM has gone on strike against Boeing three times in the last 20 years.

Its members went on strike for 48 days in 1989; 69 days in 1995, and 28 days in 2005. In 2002, the union rejected Boeing's final offer, but by less than the necessary two-thirds needed for a strike, which meant the contract was accepted by default.

Boeing shares were trading up 3.1 percent at $66.52 on Thursday afternoon.

(Reporting by Mark McSherry; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Dave Zimmerman)