Wichita ? Bombardier Aerospace workers are expected to decide Monday whether to accept wage and benefit cuts in exchange for assurances that the Wichita plant will remain open until at least 2006, union officials said Thursday.

“This restructuring will unfortunately have some financial impact on our members, but we have worked very hard to minimize that impact,” said Steve Rooney, president of the Machinists Union in Wichita.

The union is recommending approval.

“We have obtained assurances from Bombardier that the Wichita facility will remain open and will retain the bulk of the work that this plant produces extending through Oct. 2, 2006,” Rooney said.

Bombardier spokesman Dave Franson said if the contract restructuring was approved, Bombardier would keep in Wichita the Learjet 60 production line, its flight test center and its Wichita service center for the length of the contract.

“If the union turns down the proposal, then we are not nearly in as good position to retain any of the work or to compete for existing or new work. But we are very hopeful,” Franson said. “The union … has been a real partner in addressing this situation.”

Union workers will vote from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday on the contract concessions. The proposal needs a simple majority to pass.

If they are approved, their contract — which was not due to expire until 2004 — will be extended another two years, said Steve Rooney, president of the Machinists Union in Wichita.

Details of the proposed concessions were not immediately released by union officials. But Franson said they were similar to cuts announced Thursday to other workers at the plant who are not represented by the union.

Among those changes, workers will not get any merit wage increases for the rest of the year. Automatic wage increases that had been scheduled to begin in July through 2004 also will be suspended, he said. In addition, all employees will be paid biweekly beginning next year. Hourly workers are now paid weekly. Workers also will pay more for health insurance.