SPEEA urges members to reject Boeing contract

  • By Michelle Dunlop Herald Writer
  • Monday, September 17, 2012 8:40pm
  • Business

Leaders for the union representing Boeing Co. engineers and technical workers urged members on Monday to reject a contract offer from the company.

Boeing made its first complete contract offer last Thursday to negotiators for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace. The union represents 22,765 Puget Sound-area workers who design and test commercial airplanes and their components. The contract expires Oct. 6.

On Monday, SPEEA’s bargaining council members unanimously decided to send the contract to members for a vote with the recommendation to reject Boeing’s offer. Union negotiators could have chosen to continue contract talks with company leaders this week.

“A strong rejection by members of these contract offers will send a loud message to Boeing corporate leaders that they must return to negotiations ready to actually negotiate a contract that respects our contribution,” SPEEA leaders said in a message to union members.

On Thursday, Boeing officials had said they were willing to continue negotiating with the union this week. SPEEA leaders noted in a letter to Boeing that its negotiators have been unwilling to engage in a “substantive dialog” with union representatives

A Boeing spokesman did not comment immediately on SPEEA’s decision.

Boeing’s offer included 3.5 percent annual wage-pool increases for engineers and 2 percent to 3 percent for technical workers. Both had received annual increases of 5 percent under the current contract.

The company also proposed an increase in employee contributions to health coverage beginning in 2014. Boeing offered a 9.6 percent increase to pension for existing employees but proposed switching new workers to a 401(k) plan rather than the defined pension.

SPEEA members who attended a rally in Everett last week had signaled that eliminating the pension for new SPEEA members was a deal-breaker.

“We’re not going to sell out the people who come behind us,” said Terry Quick, a 22-year Boeing engineer.

Over the past few weeks, SPEEA leaders have suggested that union members might need to vote down the company’s first offer to get Boeing’s attention and demonstrate solidarity.

In their message to members, SPEEA leaders noted that the increase in wages is the lowest that the company has offered since 1975. The average SPEEA engineer working for Boeing in the Puget Sound region makes about $110,000 while the average technical worker makes $79,300, according to the union.

“For a company experiencing record profits, orders and financial success, this proposal fails at every level to recognize our contributions or respect the professionalism and dedication we bring to work each day,” SPEEA leaders wrote.

Ray Conner, president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, was asked about SPEEA while speaking at a Morgan Stanley conference Friday. Like other Boeing executives, Conner stressed the company’s plan to “present a total compensation package that’s market leading.”

Conner was seen as instrumental in negotiations that resulted in an early contract with the local district of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers in late 2011. However, SPEEA leaders have said Conner has been essentially absent from contract talks with the engineers and technical workers, which the union views as ominous. Conner disputed that assertion in message to employees last week, saying Boeing’s engineering team brings “critical value” to the company.

When asked about the balance between keeping employees happy and Boeing’s desire to cut pension costs, Conner noted that the company hadn’t been able to change the Machinists’ pension plan. However, Conner said, Boeing made “some movement” on wages and medical expenses with that union, which represents the men and women who assemble Boeing jets in Everett and Renton.

With SPEEA, “I think it’s a good opportunity to make some changes,” Conner said. “Hopefully, our employees can recognize the need to do it.”

Michelle Dunlop: 425-339-3454; mdunlop@heraldnet.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Business

Black Press Media operates Sound Publishing, the largest community news organization in Washington State with dailies and community news outlets in Alaska.
Black Press Media concludes transition of ownership

Black Press Media, which operates Sound Publishing, completed its sale Monday (March 25), following the formerly announced corporate restructuring.

Maygen Hetherington, executive director of the Historic Downtown Snohomish Association, laughs during an interview in her office on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2024, in Snohomish, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Maygen Hetherington: tireless advocate for the city of Snohomish

Historic Downtown Snohomish Association receives the Opportunity Lives Here award from Economic Alliance.

FILE - Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs poses in front of photos of the 15 people who previously held the office on Nov. 22, 2021, after he was sworn in at the Capitol in Olympia, Wash. Hobbs faces several challengers as he runs for election to the office he was appointed to last fall. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
Secretary of State Steve Hobbs: ‘I wanted to serve my country’

Hobbs, a former Lake Stevens senator, is the recipient of the Henry M. Jackson Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Mark Duffy poses for a photo in his office at the Mountain Pacific Bank headquarters on Wednesday, Feb. 14, 2024 in Everett, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Mark Duffy: Building a hometown bank; giving kids an opportunity

Mountain Pacific Bank’s founder is the recipient of the Fluke Award from Economic Alliance Snohomish County.

Barb Tolbert poses for a photo at Silver Scoop Ice Cream on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Arlington, Washington. (Annie Barker / The Herald)
Barb Tolbert: Former mayor piloted Arlington out of economic brink

Tolbert won the Elson S. Floyd Award, honoring a leader who has “created lasting opportunities” for the underserved.

Photo provided by 
Economic Alliance
Economic Alliance presented one of the Washington Rising Stem Awards to Katie Larios, a senior at Mountlake Terrace High School.
Mountlake Terrace High School senior wins state STEM award

Katie Larios was honored at an Economic Alliance gathering: “A champion for other young women of color in STEM.”

The Westwood Rainier is one of the seven ships in the Westwood line. The ships serve ports in the Pacific Northwest and Northeast Asia. (Photo provided by Swire Shipping)
Westwood Shipping Lines, an Everett mainstay, has new name

The four green-hulled Westwood vessels will keep their names, but the ships will display the Swire Shipping flag.

A Keyport ship docked at Lake Union in Seattle in June 2018. The ship spends most of the year in Alaska harvesting Golden King crab in the Bering Sea. During the summer it ties up for maintenance and repairs at Lake Union. (Keyport LLC)
In crabbers’ turbulent moment, Edmonds seafood processor ‘saved our season’

When a processing plant in Alaska closed, Edmonds-based business Keyport stepped up to solve a “no-win situation.”

Angela Harris, Executive Director of the Port of Edmonds, stands at the port’s marina on Wednesday, Jan. 24, 2024, in Edmonds, Washington. (Ryan Berry / The Herald)
Leadership, love for the Port of Edmonds got exec the job

Shoring up an aging seawall is the first order of business for Angela Harris, the first woman to lead the Edmonds port.

The Cascade Warbirds fly over Naval Station Everett. (Sue Misao / The Herald file)
Bothell High School senior awarded $2,500 to keep on flying

Cascade Warbirds scholarship helps students 16-21 continue flight training and earn a private pilot’s certificate.

Rachel Gardner, the owner of Musicology Co., a new music boutique record store on Thursday, Jan. 18, 2024 in Edmonds, Washington. Musicology Co. will open in February, selling used and new vinyl, CDs and other music-related merchandise. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
New Edmonds record shop intends to be a ‘destination for every musician’

Rachel Gardner opened Musicology Co. this month, filling a record store gap in Edmonds.

MyMyToyStore.com owner Tom Harrison at his brick and mortar storefront on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Burst pipe permanently closes downtown Everett toy store

After a pipe flooded the store, MyMyToystore in downtown Everett closed. Owner Tom Harrison is already on to his next venture.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.