Wichita ? The union of technical and professional workers at Boeing Co.’s Wichita plant urged its members Monday to reject the company’s latest contract offer and authorize a strike.

The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace — which narrowly survived a decertification vote in February — received the company’s latest offer Monday morning, just three hours before its members began to vote on whether to accept or reject it.

Union members began voting after an afternoon meeting. However, polls will not close until 5 p.m. Friday to allow for any members who may be out of town an opportunity to cast a ballot. Results will be announced Friday evening.

“The offer the company put on the table makes me feel I am less than a Third World citizen. … It wouldn’t take that much to settle this contract if the company really wanted to settle it,” said Judy Hurd, a 24-year Boeing employee who voted against the contract and for a strike authorization.

Union officials hope a successful strike authorization vote will give them additional leverage to negotiate a better contract and avoid a strike.

At Monday’s meeting, union leaders said continued negotiations — coupled with measures such as informational picketing when potential buyers of Boeing’s Wichita facility are in town — would pressure the company to improve its offer.

Boeing is exploring a sale of its commercial aircraft operations in Wichita and plants in Tulsa and McAlester, Okla.

Boeing spokesman Fred Solis said the company gave the union three contract options; the union declined to pick one. The company then picked one as its offer, which the union presented to its membership for a vote.

“All in all, we looked at the industry and looked at this market and looked at other people and other jobs … We think this offer is very competitive, if not a market-leading offer in Wichita,” he said.