Aircraft assembly workers walked off the job early Friday at Boeing factories near Seattle and elsewhere after union members voted overwhelmingly to go on strike and reject a tentative contract that would have increased wages by 25 per cent over four years.

The strike started at 12.01 am (PDT), less than three hours after the local branch of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers announced 94.6 per cent of voting workers rejected the proposed contract and 96 per cent approved the work stoppage, easily surpassing a two-thirds requirement.