On Monday, by a vote of 59% for and 41% against, the International Association of Machinists (IAM) voted to accept a new four-year contract from Boeing (NYSE: BA). Under the terms of the new contract,

Deal locks in historic gains in pay and benefits that are substantially higher than the troubled company offered before the strike began.

Striking Boeing machinists started returning to work on Wednesday after voting for a new contract with substantial wage increases. The 33,000 Seattle-area machinists voted 59 percent to accept, just two weeks after two-thirds of them voted to reject a slightly worse contract.