Next Monday, Boeing’s engineers and technical workers will vote whether to accept a new four-year contract.
Although the contracts got the backing of SPEEA negotiators, the company isn’t taking any chances, posting Web casts and messages from Boeing leaders urging SPEEA members to approve the contracts.
“There is a lot of emotion and energy focused on the contracts and the vote and while this can be an intense time, it’s critical that SPEEA-represented employees focus on educating themselves about the contract,” wrote Mike Denton, vice president of engineering for BCA, and Conrad Ball, chief engineer for IDS Puget Sound, in a recent message.
Here’s “Understanding the Contract Offers” – a Boeing video:
Notably, Boeing countered several of the complaints Heraldnet readers have listed about the contract including:
Lack of signing bonus – SPEEA members participate in Boeing’s Employee Incentive Plan (or EIP), which over the existing contract has paid out 41 extra days of pay.
Lack of COLA – “Boeing offers a cost–of-living adjustment (COLA) provision as a protection against hyperinflation. Also, Boeing bases its compensation to engineers and technical workers based upon market data and analysis. By definition, this market data reflects the salary impact of external forces such as inflation. Additionally, none of the private companies we’ve benchmarked offer their engineers a cost-of-living adjustment.”
Read Boeing’s Q&A document for more.
Poll update: Last week, I received several e-mails about the SPEEA contract poll and didn’t have the chance to respond.
- This isn’t a scientific poll. I didn’t think I needed to mention it, given that anyone can click “Accept” or “Reject” but one reader seemed to think this point was misleading to readers. Based on the polls we put up for the Machinists, these can draw some of the more extreme opinions from union members. But …
- …This is a blog, folks. Readers are encouraged to express their opinions about an issue (this one being the contract) – bad, good or indifferent. I don’t control the comments posted, unless a reader breaks the Herald’s policy on online comments (no profanity, etc.).
- An update on the poll, including the number of votes cast:
Accept: 632 votes, or 29 percent
Reject: 1,523 votes, or 71 percent
Total votes: 2,155
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