Boeing has reached a tentative agreement with its machinists’ union, whose more than 18,000 members have been on strike for 24 days. A ratification vote is scheduled for Thursday, and the strikers are not scheduled to return to work before then.The strike has stopped almost all production at Boeing, the nation’s largest commercial airplane manufacturer. The union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, posted details of the settlement on its Web site, boasting, ‘‘No takeaways, no sellouts,’’ and saying the deal gave it much of what it was seeking. There would be no increase in premia or deductibles in the workers’ health plan, as Boeing had sought. Boeing also dropped its insistence that newly hired workers would no longer qualify for retiree health benefits. In addition, Boeing agreed to increase its pension multiplier to $70 a month for every year worked, up from its previous offer of $66 a month. The union had originally demanded $80 a month, but recently indicated that it would settle for $70. To help pay for these measures, the machinists agreed to a major concession: no wage raise during the three-year pact. — NYT
