October 23, 2024 10:59 p.m. • Last updated: October 23, 2024 11:00 p.m.

Striking Boeing employees enter a polling location to vote on a new contract offer from the company, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Seattle — Boeing factory workers voted Wednesday to reject the company’s latest contract offer and continue a six-week strike that has halted production of the aerospace giant’s best-selling jetliners.

Local union leaders in Seattle said the proposal did not get the necessary majority support from members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers who voted Wednesday.

The offer included salary increases of 35% over four years. The version that union members rejected when they voted in favor of the strike last month called for a 25% increase over four years.

The union, which initially demanded a 40% pay rise over three years, said annual increases in the revised offer would amount to 39.8%, when cumulative.

Boeing workers told Associated Press reporters that the company’s refusal to restore a traditional pension plan that was eliminated a decade ago was a sticking point.

The union standoff comes during an already difficult year for Boeing, which became the subject of several federal investigations after a door panel blew off a 737 Max plane during an Alaska Airlines flight in January .

The strike has deprived the company of much-needed cash it gets from delivering new planes to airlines. On Wednesday, the company reported a third-quarter loss of more than $6 billion.

Union machinists assemble the 737 Max, Boeing’s best-selling airliner, as well as the 777 or “triple-seven” jet and the 767 cargo plane at factories in Renton and Everett, in Washington State.

Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg told staff in a memo this month that about 10% of the company’s 170,000 employees worldwide would be laid off in the coming months if the strike does not end.

He said the company would also delay the deployment of a new plane, the 777X, to 2026 instead of 2025, and stop building the freighter version of its 767 plane in 2027 after completing outstanding orders.

Before Wednesday’s third-quarter earnings announcement, Boeing reported a loss of more than $25 billion since the start of 2019.

Boeing said the average annual salary for machinists is currently $75,608.

At the start of the strike, Boeing made what it called its “best and last” offer. The proposal called for wage increases of 30 percent over four years and angered union leaders because the company announced it to striking workers through the media and set a short deadline for ratification.

Boeing backed down and gave the union more time. However, many workers argued that the supply was still not enough. The company withdrew the proposed contract on October 9 after negotiations failed, and both sides announced the latest proposal on Saturday.

Boeing’s last strike, in 2008, lasted eight weeks and cost the company about $100 million a day in deferred revenue. In 1995, a strike lasted 10 weeks.

Lindsey Wasson in Everett, Washington, contributed to this report.

Bartley Stokes Sr., who has worked for Boeing for 46 years, encourages other striking employees to vote no on a new contract offer from the company Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at a voting location at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Striking Boeing employees arrive to vote on a new contract offer from the company, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at a voting location at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Boeing mechanic Eugenio, who preferred not to give a last name, sounds a megaphone while holding a sign as employees gather to vote on a new contract offer from the company, Wednesday, Oct. 23 2024, in Everett, Washington (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

A worker holds a sign as Boeing employees vote on a new contract offer from the company, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at a voting location at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/ Lindsey Wasson)

In this photo provided by Boeing, CEO Kelley Ortberg is shown during a visit to the Boeing factory on August 8, 2024 in Renton, Wash. (Marian Lockhart/Boeing via AP)

A worker holds a sign as Boeing employees vote on a new contract offer from the company, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, at a voting location at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, Wash. (AP Photo/ Lindsey Wasson)