Boeing union presses holdouts

By BRYAN CORLISS

Herald Writer

The names of about 200 Boeing engineers and technicians have been forwarded to the company for having failed to either join the union or pay it a fee.

Those workers are out of compliance with Boeing’s contract with the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace and could be fired, a Boeing spokesman said.

However, the union has yet to formally request that step, said spokesman Peter Conte.

On the contrary, SPEEA spokesman Bill Dugovich said, "Our goal is to get people to respond so there doesn’t have to be action taken by the company."

At issue is the so-called "agency fee."

The fee is part of the contract negotiated after the engineers’ strike earlier this year, and specifically approved by workers during a vote in August.

As a result, all engineers and technicians in units represented by the union must either join it — becoming full voting members — or pay it a fee to compensate the union for the cost of negotiating pay and benefits.

The fee is equal to the union’s monthly dues of $22.81. Federal law also allows workers to file as conscientious objectors to the union or seek exemption for religious reasons.

Most have chosen to become full members, Dugovich said. About 5,200 workers have joined since this summer, giving SPEEA’s Puget Sound bargaining unit 16,513 members — more than 85 percent of the eligible engineers and technicians.

The deadline for deciding whether to join, pay the fee or become an objector has passed, but "we continue to get a couple of people responding about on a daily basis," Dugovich said. Many are workers who have been traveling extensively and only recently found out.

As for the rest, "some people are just waiting for the company to tell them they need to do it," Dugovich said.

The union has asked the company to instruct the supervisors of those on the list to take them aside and explain the process and the consequences, Dugovich said.

Conte said he wasn’t personally aware that such a request had been made, but added that most supervisors know enough about the situation to explain it to their employees, and if they don’t, the human resources staff certainly does.

The company wants employees to make their decisions and stay on the job, Conte said. "Neither the company nor the union is seeking termination of employees."