SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing factory workers voted to accept a contract offer and finish your strike after more than seven weeks, clearing the way for the aerospace giant to resume production of its best-selling aircraft and generate much-needed cash.

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers district leaders in Seattle said 59% of voting members agreed to approve the company’s fourth formal offer and the third was put to a vote. The deal includes a 38% salary increase over four years, and ratification and productivity bonuses.

However, Boeing refused to meet the strikers’ demand to restore a company pension plan that was frozen almost a decade ago.

The ratification of the contract in the election day eve paved the way for a major American manufacturer and government contractor to restart Pacific Northwest assembly lines that the strike kept idle for 53 days.

Bank of America analysts estimated last month that Boeing was losing about $50 million a day during the now-ended strike, which did not affect a nonunion plant in South Carolina where the company makes the 787s.

boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg He said in a message to employees that he was pleased to have reached an agreement.

“Although the last few months have been difficult for all of us, we are all part of the same team,” Ortberg said. “We will only move forward by listening and working together. “There is much work ahead to return to the excellence that made Boeing an iconic company.”

According to the union, the 33,000 workers it represents can return to work on Wednesday or until November 12. Ortberg has said it could take “a couple of weeks” to resume production, in part because some workers may need to retrain.

The average annual salary for Boeing machinists is currently $75,608 and will eventually increase to $119,309 under the new contract, according to the company. The union said the compound value of the promised pay increase would equate to an increase of more than 43% over the life of the agreement.

“It’s time for us to come together. This is a victory,” IAM District 751 President Jon Holden told members while announcing the recount Monday night. “You stood your ground, you stood your ground, and you won.”

Reactions were mixed even among union members who voted in favor of accepting the contract.

Although he voted “yes,” Seattle-based calibration specialist Eep Bolaño said the result was “certainly not a victory.” Bolaño said she and her co-workers made a wise but infuriating decision in accepting the offer.

“We were threatened by a company that was paralyzed, dying, bleeding on the ground, and we, as one of the largest unions in the country, could not even get two-thirds of our demands from them. “This is humiliating,” he said.

For other workers like William Gardiner, laboratory leader in calibration services, the revised offer was cause for celebration.

“I’m very excited about this vote,” said Gardiner, who has worked for Boeing for 13 years. “We didn’t fix everything, that’s fine. Overall, it is a very positive contract.”

Union leaders backed the latest proposal, saying they thought they had gotten all they could through negotiations and the strike. Along with the salary increase, the new contract gives each worker a $12,000 ratification bonus and maintains a performance bonus that the company wanted to eliminate.

“It is time for our members to build on these achievements and confidently declare victory,” the local union district said before the vote. “We believe that asking members to remain on strike longer would not be right as we have achieved so much success.”

President Joe Biden congratulated machinists and Boeing for reaching an agreement that he said supports justice in the workplace and improves workers’ ability to retire with dignity. The contract, he said, is important to Boeing’s future as a “critical part of the U.S. aerospace sector.”

Biden’s acting Labor Secretary Julie Su intervened in the negotiations several times, including when Boeing made its latest offer last week.

A continued strike would have plunged Boeing into greater financial danger and uncertainty. Last month, Ortberg announced plans to lay off about 17,000 people and a sale of shares to prevent the company’s credit rating from being reduced to junk level.

The strike began September 13 with an overwhelming 94.6% rejection of the company’s offer to increase wages by 25% over four years, far less than the union’s original demand for 40% wage increases over three years.

Machinists rejected another offer (35% raises over four years and still no pension revival) on Oct. 23, the same day Boeing reported third-quarter profitability. loss of more than 6 billion dollars.

The contract rejections reflected resentment that built up after union concessions and small wage increases over the past decade.

He work confrontation — the first strike by Boeing machinists since an eight-week strike in 2008 — was the latest setback in a volatile year for the aerospace giant. The 2008 strike lasted eight weeks and cost the company about $100 million a day in deferred revenue. A 1995 strike lasted 10 weeks.

Boeing was under several federal investigations this year after a door stopper flew a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Federal regulators put limits on production of Boeing planes that they said would last until they felt confident. manufacturing safety in the company.

The door plug incident renewed concerns about the safety of the 737 Max. Two of the planes crashed less than five months apart in 2018 and 2019, killing 346 people. The CEO at the time, whose efforts to fix the company failed, announced in March that he would go down. In July, Boeing agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for misleading regulators who approved the 737 Max.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Monday’s vote puts Boeing’s future back on more solid footing.

“Washington is home to the most skilled aerospace workers in the world, and they understandably spoke out for the respect and compensation they deserve,” Inslee said in a statement congratulating the workers.