The outcome of the Machinists union strike is encouraging to members of the other major union at the Boeing Co., the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.
The union took particular notice when Boeing decided to pull back plans to increase health care premiums for employees in order to settle the strike with the International Association of Machinists, SPEEA spokesman Bill Dugovich said.
| SPEEA talks
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace will begin intensive contract talks with the Boeing Co. Nov. 1. The union’s two contracts for Puget Sound workers expire Dec. 1. |
“The IAM set the bar high, and maybe the company learned that it is much easier to put a respectable good offer on the table,” he said.
Dugovich said engineers and technical workers share many of the same issues as the Machinists, who ended a 28-day strike on Thursday when 80 percent of the membership voted to accept a revised contract offer from Boeing.
Pensions, health care and job security are at the top of SPEEA’s concerns as well, he said. The major difference between the two unions is that while pay raises were not a priority for Machinists, at SPEEA, the feeling is “our folks need more money,” he said.
“We continue to be behind engineering and technical workers doing comparable work at other aerospace companies,” Dugovich said. “Boeing should be paying world-leading wages and providing world-leading benefits.”
Boeing is “interested in a contract that works for all the parties … (and) enhances our competitiveness instead of eroding it,” spokeswoman Debbie Nomaguchi said.
“The key for SPEEA,” she said, “is to define the really vital issues and make some choices around those.”
SPEEA presented a contract proposal to Boeing Sept. 15. Subcommittees have been meeting to discuss the proposal since then, Nomaguchi said.
The proposal calls for “wage increases appropriate to each bargaining unit and to Boeing’s premier market position,” as well as including SPEEA-represented employees in the company’s Employee Incentive Plan, which pays bonuses to nonunion employees when the company hits certain performance targets.
Boeing initially proposed a similar bonus program to the Machinists, but withdrew it in the final offer.
Among other things, SPEEA’s proposal looks for increases in overtime pay and premiums for late shifts and weekend work, an increase in the matching payment Boeing makes to workers’ 401(k)-style savings accounts, and a switch from one Boeing retirement plan to another.
The two sides will begin round-the-clock negotiations Nov. 1 and expect to finish them by Nov. 15. The union then will hold a vote-by-mail election on the contract.
SPEEA’s Puget Sound contracts – one for engineers and one for technical workers – expire Dec. 1. SPEEA’s Wichita, Kan., contract expires Dec. 5. In all, the union represents about 18,000 workers.
In 2002, Boeing and SPEEA came to an amicable agreement on contracts that were approved by 88 percent of Puget Sound members. That was a sharp reversal from the 1999 round of talks, which dragged on into the new year, resulting in a 40-day strike in 2000.
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
