The workers, members of International Association of Machinists (IAM) Local 776, turned down the contract with 56 percent voting no, even though the offer was recommended for approval by union negotiators. Some 85 percent of the workers then voted to go on strike.

Their three-year contract expired April 9. No new talks have been scheduled. Lockheed Martin, the world's largest defense contractor, produces the F-16 fighter aircraft at this plant. The company claims that it will maintain some production with nonunion workers and salaried personnel.

The company's proposal included a 10 percent pay raise over three years and a 25 percent pension benefit increase, but it didn't address the workers' concerns about job security, outsourcing, cost-of-living adjustments, and equal benefits comparable to those won by the IAM workers at Boeing.

The strike is the third in the history of the 59-year-old plant. Previous walkouts took place in 1946 and 1984.  
 
 
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