Oct. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co. and its machinists union have been asked to meet in U.S. Senator Patty Murray’s office today in a “last-ditch attempt” at reaching an agreement to keep 787 Dreamliner assembly jobs in Washington state.

Murray, a Washington Democrat, “believes the union has put a very good offer on the table, and Boeing shouldn’t pass up on this opportunity,” Alex Glass, a spokeswoman for the senator, said in a telephone interview. The union has accepted Murray’s invitation and Boeing has yet to respond, Glass said.

“We have the information we need to make the decision,” Boeing spokesman Russ Young said. “We were very clear with the union about when we needed their best and final proposal.”

Boeing is considering building a new 787 Dreamliner assembly plant in South Carolina in what would be the first time the world’s second-biggest commercial-jet builder has set up a new factory outside its historic Seattle manufacturing hub. The company hasn’t yet been able to reach the no-strike agreement it’s seeking with the union, whose four walkouts in the past 20 years have delayed plane deliveries and cost billions.

Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney said on an Oct. 21 conference call that the upfront costs and inefficiencies of building a plant in South Carolina, adjacent to a Dreamliner parts factory the company bought in July, would be overcome by additional strikes at Puget Sound sites. He said the company would decide “in the next couple of weeks” on the new line, which it needs to overcome development and production delays that have set the Dreamliner back at least 2 1/2 years.

Board Meeting

Boeing’s board didn’t make a decision on the new line’s location at its Oct. 26 meeting, said four people familiar with the matter.

The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said yesterday that keeping the second line at the Everett, Washington, plant that’s already building the new plane is “the rational decision with the least amount of risk.” The union says the plane would be flying by now if Boeing had given their experienced members a greater role in the program instead of outsourcing more work.

A new plant in Charleston, added to the one Boeing just bought that makes sections of the Dreamliner’s fuselage, would give Boeing its first assembly center outside Seattle and could siphon more jobs away from Washington as Boeing considers other new aircraft models.

To contact the reporters on this story: Susanna Ray in Seattle at sray7@bloomberg.net; Gopal Ratnam in Washington at gratnam1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: October 28, 2009 13:43 EDT