SPEEA plans ‘support actions’ for Boeing negotiations in Kansas

Published 12:48 pm Wednesday, December 3, 2008

With a contract in place in the Puget Sound region, Boeing and SPEEA are battling it out in Kansas, where the union represents 700 engineers.

Yesterday, Boeing presented its compensation package, which the union said failed to meet even its “lowest expectations.”

“Last week, we thought we were being treated as second-class engineers, but based on the compensation proposal we received this afternoon, we are approaching third world status,” said Joe Newberry, Wichita negotiation team chair, in SPEEA’s daily update.

The union will plan “work-to-rule” campaigns in the Northwest to support negotiations in Kansas, Ray Goforth, SPEEA’s executive director, said in a Twitter message sent this afternoon.

In mid-November, Boeing announced it would slash 800 jobs – both salaried and hourly workers – in Wichita.