Boeing said in a statement Saturday "this new offer builds on our previous strong, highly competitive one and directly addresses the issues raised by our employees. We are hopeful they will vote yes on Wednesday."

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The tentative deal does not necessarily mean that the risk of a strike is over. A number of companies have reached deals with union leadership, only to see rank-and-file workers reject the proposed contract, forcing a strike. That's what happened at John Deere where 10,000 members of the United Auto Workers union went on strike in October after rejecting a tentative deal. They stayed on strike for five weeks, rejecting another tentative agreement along the way, before voting in favor of a third agreement and returning to work.

Union members at the three Boeing defense plants overwhelmingly rejected the previous offer from the company a week ago.

Boeing said in a statement Saturday "this new offer builds on our previous strong, highly competitive one and directly addresses the issues raised by our employees. We are hopeful they will vote yes on Wednesday."

*

The tentative deal does not necessarily mean that the risk of a strike is over. A number of companies have reached deals with union leadership, only to see rank-and-file workers reject the proposed contract, forcing a strike. That's what happened at John Deere where 10,000 members of the United Auto Workers union went on strike in October after rejecting a tentative deal. They stayed on strike for five weeks, rejecting another tentative agreement along the way, before voting in favor of a third agreement and returning to work.

Union members at the three Boeing defense plants overwhelmingly rejected the previous offer from the company a week ago.