Engineers at Boeing supplier Spirit reject contract

Published 6:40 pm Thursday, July 23, 2009

Engineers at Spirit AeroSystems rejected a labor contract, with 91 percent of the members voting the offer down.

Boeing supplier Spirit and union leaders for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace ended negotiations early this month.

“I’m hopeful that the company will pay attention to this vote,” said Ray Goforth, SPEEA executive director, in a statement. “We need a contract that rewards employees for the success they brought to Spirit since the divestiture from The Boeing Company.”

SPEEA said that Spirit’s offer gave “no guaranteed wage increases, could require four hours of unpaid overtime before receiving overtime pay and doubled medical premiums.”

SPEEA represents 774 engineers at Spirit. The union said it has received more than 120 new members since Spirit made its offer.

Boeing and SPEEA signed a new four-year contract for engineers and technical workers here in the Puget Sound region late last year.