Boeing machinists go on strike

Machinists from Huntington Beach’s largest employer officially went on strike at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday after contracts talks with the aerospace giant Boeing collapsed.

About 400 Boeing machinists at the Huntington Beach rocket facility and C-17 support center on Graham Street are participating in the labor stoppage, along with another 1,100 employees at California facilities in Torrance and at Vandenberg and Edwards air force bases, as well as in Florida and Alabama.

The Huntington Beach facility is home to the Delta Rocket program.

Company officials announced in May that the Delta program would eventually be shifted to Denver, sending 1,100 jobs along with it.

Wednesday’s strike centers around disagreements over pay increases, health care costs and retirement benefits.

Company officials said the strike threatens to delay Delta launches and the Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems satellite program.

Just two weeks ago, a launch of the Delta rocket at Vandenberg Air Force Base was delayed amid rumors of a strike, company officials said.

“We’ve got two rockets sitting on the launch pad, [and we] will see impacts to those missions,” Boeing spokesman Robert Villanueva said. “There are some employees [striking] that are critical to that work.”

Union officials with the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 725 said they called the strike to protest a proposal to end retirement healthcare benefits for new hires.

“The critical issue is that Boeing is trying to turn current worker against future worker,” union leader Gary Quick said. “We have those benefits now because past generations fought for our benefits and we’re not going to vote away the benefits for those that come after us.”

Media gets insiders tour of new theater

Local media representatives were invited to get a sneak peek of the new Century 20 Bella Terra cinema Tuesday. The new megaplex is Huntington Beach’s newest and biggest movie theater and a central anchor of Bella Terra, the new shopping mall rising out of the ashes of the old Huntington Center at the corner of Beach Boulevard and Edinger Avenue.

Reporters and mall and theater officials toured the state-of-the-art theater as more than 100 construction crew members rushed around to complete the facility by its Nov. 16 soft opening. The theater will officially open its doors to the public two days later.

Lots of work still needs to be done at the theater: flooring, lighting fixtures and plenty of painting. On Tuesday, crews were busily working to assemble the snack bar, install new stadium seats in the movie theater and put the finishing touches on the projection room.

“The heavy structural work has all been completed,” project manager Bob Michalosky said. “We’re just focusing on the finishes, the fixtures and the personal property.”

The new theater is anchored by a huge lobby with imposing overhead windows that fill the space with plenty of natural light. The new theater will include 20 separate theaters ranging in size from 500 to 150 seats, each complete with stadium seating and chairs that partially recline and can be converted into love seats for snuggling. The new theater will also feature a cafeteria-style concession stand with a Starbucks and hand-dipped ice cream stand, as well as 10 outside ticketing booths, said Nancy Klasky, Century Theater’s vice president of marketing.

“We’re very excited with all the things that are going on here,” said Lindsay Parton, a partner with firm DJM Capital. Parton’s firm purchased Bella Terra from developers J.H. Synder and Ezralow for a reported $228 million in August.

The mall was first built in 1966 and thrived for decades, but the original owner’s failure to maintain the center in the late 1980s and ‘90s brought about its demise and eventual sale to Ezralow, which then worked with J.H. Snyder to rebuild the mall.

The public is invited to attend the soft opening of the theater on Nov. 16 for the “Canned Film Festival.” Starting at 6 p.m., anyone who brings in a can of food will be admitted to a movie of his or her choice. Food will be donated to Orange County Food Bank.

On Nov. 17, Century Theaters will host a fundraising event to benefit Serving People in Need, or SPIN, a nonprofit serving Orange County’s homeless population. For ticket information, call (714) 751-1101, ext. 103.