Lockheed workers to vote Thursday on new contract

25/06/2012 - 19:41

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Striking workers from the Fort Worth, Texas, plant where Lockheed Martin Corp builds its F-16 and F-35 fighter planes will vote on Thursday on whether to accept a tentative deal reached by a key union and management late Saturday, the union said.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union, whose 3,600-plus members have been on strike for nine weeks, have scheduled a vote for 11 a.m. CDT (1600 GMT) on Thursday, a top union official said.

The union, known as the IAM, represents Lockheed employees at the Texas plant, Edwards Air Force Base, California, and Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland.

Lockheed, the Pentagon's No. 1 supplier by sales, announced early Sunday that it had reached a tentative deal on a revised labor contract with the union's bargaining committee during meetings Wednesday through Saturday facilitated by the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service.

(Reporting By Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Gerald E. McCormick)