SEATTLE - Unless talks in Florida result in an agreement, members of the Boeing Machinists union are poised to strike Saturday at 12:01 a.m., when a 48-hour contract extension expires.

The contract affects 25,000 aircraft workers in the Puget Sound area and about 2,000 more in Wichita and Portland.

Workers voted this week to reject Boeing's offer and go on strike, mainly over job security. Union leaders agreed to the extension at the request of Gov. Chris Gregoire and federal mediators.

Seattle papers report negotiators went to Florida to meet with a top union official who is attending a conference in Lake Buena Vista.

A half-dozen workers carried strike signs Friday outside Boeing's factory in Everett. They said some unhappy workers have slowed their work.

Members of the union at the aerospace giant voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to strike for an unprecedented second time in three years, then learned both sides had agreed to the 48-hour contract extension.

Boeing spokesman Tim Healy said Thursday that the federal mediator was trying to help the two sides find middle ground, but he had no information on the progress of the talks.

"The goal at this point is for us to understand the union's critical few issues and evaluate the situation to see if there is a way to move forward," Healy said. "Right now, we're focused on understanding where the union is coming from and reaching an agreement."

Union spokeswoman Connie Kelliher said its representatives would not comment on the talks while they are under way.

"They want to get the work done at the table, which is where it should have been done all along," she said.

The contract had been set to expire at 12:01 a.m. Thursday before being extended to the same time Saturday morning.

The last-minute move to avert a potentially bruising strike that could cost more than 27,000 workers weeks of pay was met with frustration from rank-and-file members who had voted 80 percent against the offer and 87 percent to strike if the offer was rejected, far more than the two-thirds required for a walkout.

Under union rules, anything less than two-thirds for a strike meant the offer would have taken effect by default regardless of the vote to reject it.