Union blames Boeing 787 woes on outsourcing

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Boeing's engineers union blamed the problems with the grounded 787 Dreamliners on outsourcing as it rejected the US aerospace giant's "final" contract offer.

After months of negotiations, and with current contracts expired, Boeing said late Thursday it had made its "best-and-final contract offer" to the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.

SPEEA union negotiators, representing 23,000 Boeing engineers and technical workers, unanimously rejected the offer.

They said approval for a strike may be on the ballots when the union members themselves vote on the contract offer.