EVERETT – Members of the Boeing Co.’s engineering union will decide the fate of board members who ousted the group’s executive director in July.
On Wednesday, members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace submitted petitions to recall four of the union’s seven executive board members. The result of the vote could have direct impact on the union’s contract talks with the Boeing Co. next year. Board members decide which members represent SPEEA in the negotiations.
The four board members who would face a recall vote under the petition include Mike Dunn and Jill Ritchey, who serve as Northwest vice presidents on the board; Bob Wilkerson, who is SPEEA’s treasurer; and Dave Baine, SPEEA’s secretary.
Many of the 20,000 union members in the Puget Sound area had been upset by the way the board dismissed former executive director Charles Bofferding, SPEEA President Cynthia Cole told The Herald in an interview Tuesday. The motion to terminate Bofferding did not appear on the July 10 meeting agenda. Because the meeting initially was scheduled as a closed session, few SPEEA members other than the board attended.
“We typically involve the members in major decisions,” Cole said. “That’s what’s rubbing members the wrong way.”
If the petitions contain signatures from at least 10 percent of SPEEA’s active members, the union will mail out recall ballots shortly.
The process of picking a new executive director continues despite recent board turmoil. SPEEA’s interim chief of staff, Bill Dugovich, has said the union intends to have a new executive director in place by November.
Reporter Michelle Dunlop: 425-339-3454 or mdunlop@heraldnet.com.
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