BY NED MEASEL  
MARIETTA, Georgia--Members of the International Association of Machinists ended their seven-week strike against Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. April 28 after voting by a 63 percent margin to accept a new contract proposed by the company.

The latest offer was the third from the company and followed two days of federally-supervised negotiations in Washington, D.C. For the 2,700 workers at the plant here the central issues in the strike involved pensions, health insurance, and moves by Lockheed to outsource work.

In the final contract the company agreed to increase pension payments from $47 to $56 a month per year of service. Lockheed won increased payments by workers for health insurance with a stipulation that premium hikes are to be capped for one year. The company agreed it will negotiate with the union proposals to outsource work on a case-by-case basis.

The contract contains the same wage and economic proposals as the previous one. It includes a 10 percent wage increase over three years and a $1,000 signing bonus.

The strike helped force the company to withdraw a contractual clause that would have prohibited Lockheed workers from walking on the picket line of another union.

The contract introduces a new work schedule called "9-80" that can be implemented on a department-by-department basis. This will allow a schedule of four nine-hour days and an eight-hour day one week, and four nine-hour days the next week. With this setup the company will be able to schedule 80 hours of work in nine days without paying any overtime to union members.  
 
 
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