King County Journal business editor Clayton Park http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/220167 spent some time recently with SPEEA executive director Charlie Bofferding, talking about his union’s top issues in its upcoming contract talks. Unlike the Machinists union, SPEEA’s people want more money.
Key Quote: “‘The market (for skilled engineers and technical workers) is a tighter market’ that’s growing and more competitive, Bofferding said. ‘Naturally, there’s upward salary pressure that must be addressed or Boeing will fail to attract or retain the people they need to be successful in the long term.’”
And here’s a full-length version of an Associated Press story on the upcoming SPEEA talkshttp://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=1220766, courtesy of ABC News. We ran a drastically truncated version of the story in Monday’s Herald.
Key Quote: “With the new 787 jetliner and several other critical projects in development, they have plenty of bargaining power. And they’re not shy about saying so. ‘We have the most leverage of any work group at the Boeing Company on the bottom line’ … (said) Charles Bofferding, SPEEA’s executive director.”
And in case you missed it, here’s the most-recent SPEEA story I’ve done, from back on Oct. 1. http://www.heraldnet.com/stories/05/10/01/100bus_speea001.cfm
Key Quote, from SPEEA spokesman Bill Dugovich: “‘We continue to be behind engineering and technical workers doing comparable work at other aerospace companies. … Boeing should be paying world-leading wages and providing world-leading benefits.’”
And the counter from Boeing spokeswoman Debbie Nomaguchi: “‘The key for SPEEA,’ she said, ‘is to define the really vital issues and make some choices around those.’”
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