About 1,700 builders of C-17 cargo jet strike Boeing in Long Beach over failed contract talks

C-17 workers strike Boeing in Long Beach, Calif.

LONG BEACH, Calif. — About 1,700 Boeing workers who assemble the giant C-17 cargo jets in Long Beach are on picket lines in a dispute over pension and medical benefits.

The walkout began Tuesday morning and picket lines are up at several Boeing buildings. Boeing is the city’s largest single private employer with about 5,000 workers.

Boeing spokeswoman Cindy Anderson says most of the union’s members are on strike and the C-17 production line has been shut down indefinitely, although nonunion workers are on the job.

The walkout comes after union and management talks failed. A week ago, nearly 80 percent of the United Auto Works Local 148 union members rejected a 46-month contract proposal because the workers felt it contained too many concessions.

(This version CORRECTS number of Boeing employees to about 5,000.)