The union that represents Boeing Co. engineers here has asked the company to look at a couple key overtime and vacation policies.
Due to delays with Boeing’s 787 program, engineers and technical workers represented by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace have been working plenty of overtime (as have machinists assigned to the program). Therefore, the union wants Boeing to pay out vacation time that members would lose given their hectic schedules. And SPEEA is asking Boeing to extend a premium overtime rate set to expire at the end of the year that was established in the 2008 labor contract.
Boeing is considering the union’s requests, said Tim Healy, a company spokesman. The company is expected to make a decision by year’s end.
Boeing workers can accrue up to two years of maximum vacation time. For instance, an engineer who has been at Boeing for less than five years is earning 10 vacation days each year. He or she can carry over as much as 20 days, or two years’ worth of vacation. But workers would lose any vacation accrued that exceeds the maximum if he or she doesn’t take it by the end of the year.
The company had agreed to pay out those extra vacation days through the end of 2010. SPEEA wants that policy extended so its members receive compensation even though they’re unable to take the days off.
SPEEA also has asked Boeing to extend an overtime agreement that’s set to expire in late December. In their 2008 contract, Boeing and SPEEA agreed that engineers would be compensated regular time plus $15 per hour for each hour of overtime worked in excess of 144 hours per quarter, which works out to about 11 hours of overtime weekly. Unless Boeing approves an extension, engineers’ overtime pay will revert back to regular time plus $6.50 per hour.
The union had negotiated the policy through 2010, thinking the company would have its delayed 787 back on track by then, said Bill Dugovich, communications director for SPEEA. But union members continue to work long hours to fix problems created by Boeing’s decision to outsource work, he said.
Boeing plans to deliver its first 787-8 in the first quarter of 2011.
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