The plot thickens in the dispute between the leaders of the union representing Boeing Co. engineers.

Today, members of the Society of Engineering Employees in Aerospace will hand in a petition seeking the recall of the four board members who voted to get rid of SPEEA’s executive director July 10.

To be valid, the petition needed signatures from 10 percent of the union’s members, SPEEA President Cynthia Cole told me Tuesday. Once SPEEA validates the signatures, the union will have 45 days to send out ballots to its members, allowing them to decide if those four board members should remain at their posts, she said.

This is the latest in the disagreement between SPEEA board members that we initially reported last week.

This latest recall petition comes as SPEEA begins its search for a new executive director, who the group hopes to have in place by early November. More importantly, it comes a year before the engineers begin contract negotiations with Boeing.

SPEEA President Cole said she was torn about the recall petition. Cole said she believes SPEEA is a “democratic organization” but the way that the four board members ousted the executive director didn’t reflect that principle.

“Now is the right time to do this,” Cole said, noting the proximity to SPEEA-Boeing negotiations.

The contract negotiations carry significance not only for the Boeing Co. and the 20,000 SPEEA members in the Puget Sound but also impact thousands of aerospace and industry-related workers in the region. SPEEA members went on strike for 40 days in 2000.