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Machinists union members ratified a new contract with The Boeing Co. on Saturday, ending an eight-week strike that cut the airplane maker's profits and stalled jetliner deliveries.

The vote by members of the union, which represents about 27,000 workers at plants in Washington state, Oregon and Kansas, was about 74 percent in favor of the proposal five days after the two sides tentatively agreed to the deal and union leaders recommended its approval.

The workers are expected to return to Boeing's commercial airplane factories, which have been closed since the Sept. 6 walkout, starting Sunday night.

The union has said the contract protects more than 5,000 factory jobs, prevents the outsourcing of certain positions and preserves health care benefits. It also promises pay increases over four years rather than three, as outlined in earlier offers.

The union members, including electricians, painters, mechanics and other production workers, have lost an average of about $7,000 in base pay since the strike began. They had rejected earlier proposals by the company, headquartered in Chicago.

It was the union's fourth strike against Boeing in two decades and its longest since 1995. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers staged strikes against Boeing for 24 days in 2005, 69 days in 1995 and 48 days in 1989.

Boeing officials have said the contract allows them flexibility to manage their business and remain competitive.

The work stoppage was costing the company an estimated $100 million per day in deferred revenue and postponing delivery of its long-awaited 787 jetliner, which has already been delayed three times, and other commercial planes.

The strike came amid surging demand for Boeing's commercial jetliners, which include 737s, 747s, 767s and 777s. Boeing has said its order backlog has swollen to a record $349 billion in value.

It remains unclear how long it would take Boeing's commercial aircraft business to return to pre-strike production levels, but the company's chief financial officer, James Bell, has said Boeing hopes it would take less than two months.

The walkout started as the global economy began sinking into turmoil. Boeing executives have said only 10 percent of the company's orders come from domestic carriers, while the rest are placed by customers in other parts of the world, particularly Asia.

As the Machinists strike wore on, Boeing began talks with another union in hopes of avoiding a second strike by 21,000 scientists, engineers, manual writers, technicians and other hourly workers.

Boeing officials and representatives of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, which struck for 40 days in 2000, moved into the final phase of contract talks Wednesday. The union's two current contracts expire Dec. 1.

Negotiators at a hotel outside Seattle say they hope to present a proposal to that union's membership by mid-November.

On Saturday, Nov. 1, striking Boeing (BA) machinists will get a chance to vote on a proposed contract that could end a walkout that has halted plane manufacturing at the company since Sept. 6. Union leaders are crowing about the proposed four-year deal, calling it a victory for the workers. But management, while bruised, is walking away from the table with a few key wins, too.

For one, the company will be able to outsource as much work as it wants to on its new 787 commercial jet, the so-called Dreamliner that will be the most important plane in Boeing's lineup for the next decade or longer. The managers also exempted the planes and other products it makes in its defense operations from contract terms the International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers, or IAM, demanded.

"It was a pretty genuine compromise," says Paul H. Nisbet, an analyst with JSA Research in Malta, N.Y. "Boeing [managers] apparently held onto the right to run their business."

Just how much of a compromise will be something for workers to decide when they vote. IAM leaders, eager to sell the deal to their 27,000 striking workers, are pointing to the wage and benefit gains and job-security terms they've won.

Union Gains

"Our union has delivered what few Americans have—economic certainty and quality benefits over the next four years," said Tom Wroblewski, president of IAM's District 751 unit, which represents Puget Sound area workers. "In this round, we won the battle and made some significant gains."

The IAM was able to stave off changes management had wanted in health care and pension benefits, for instance. Boeing originally sought to shift some costs in medical care onto employees, but the new deal freezes the structure on the same terms as were adopted in a 2005 contract settlement. The union also forced the managers to back away from plans to deny a traditional "defined-benefit" pension plan to future workers and give them a 401(k) plan instead, and it in fact won increases in the traditional benefit. They also won wage increases of 5% in the first year, 3% in the second and third years, and 4% in the final year of the contract.

IAM leaders are pointing to a few other major gains:

•Some 2,200 facilities and maintenance employees have their job security guaranteed for the life of the contract.

•The IAM can compete for work that moves from one Boeing facility to another. If its members can do the work more cheaply than outsiders, they can get the work.

•Some 2,920 forklift drivers and other shipping personnel will not be laid off.

•Outside vendors must deliver products to IAM members in designated area, except for work on the 787.