I have learned from sources that Boeing and the union are meeting secretly at a hotel near Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. Below is the story. BY James Wallace P-I aerospace reporter With a 48-hour deadline approaching, representatives of The Boeing Co. and its largest union are hunkered down in a hotel at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., trying to reach an agreement that would prevent a strike. Sources said that both sides flew to Orlando early Thursday to continue talks with a federal mediator. Neither the union nor the company would disclose the location of the talks, but the Seattle P-I confirmed they are taking place at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort. The hotel was selected because it is the location of the grand lodge convention later this week of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Union and company representatives involved in the contract talks are all registered at the hotel. The two sides agreed to meet after a dramatic showdown Wednesday night at the union's district headquarters near Boeing Field that saw the union's leaders cursed and shouted down when they announced an agreement to keep talking with the company for 48 more hours, even though the union's membership had voted overwhelmingly to strike. Those taking part in the 11th-hour talks include Tom Buffenbarger, international president of the Machinists union. Also there for the union are Mark Blondin, aerospace coordinator a ...
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