Technical workers at The Boeing Company approved a new four-year contract March 18 — a month after narrowly rejecting the exact same offer. The vote — 4,244 to 654 — puts an end to negotiations that have lasted nearly a year. The previous contracts expired Nov. 25, 2012.
Both Technical Unit and Professional Unit employees at Boeing are members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) Local 2001, an affiliate of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE). Most work in the Puget Sound region of Washington state, but the union also represents 200 employees at the Gresham plant in Oregon, as well as workers at facilities in Utah and California. They bargain contracts at the same time, but the contracts are separate and independent agreements.
Both units overwhelming rejected Boeing’s first contract offer in October 2012. The company proposed a small increase in wages, and called for an increase in members’ contributions to health insurance costs.
A key sticking point was Boeing’s demand to switch new hires to a defined contribution pension plan, i.e., a 401(k). Union officials say the new retirement plan slashes benefits by 41 percent. Boeing’s own analysis shows a 33 percent cut.
Induced by the overwhelming rejection of its first proposal in October, Boeing agreed to extend the terms of the previous contract by including 5 percent annual salary increase pools, no increases to employees for medical coverage, and an increase to the retirement benefit. But it refused to budge on the pension change for workers hired after March 1, 2013.
With Boeing announcing its last best and final offer, the union took the proposal to members for a vote in February, with the recommendation that they reject them and support strike authorization.
On Feb. 19, the Technical Unit — made up of designers, technical writers, planners and others — rejected the offer 2,868 to 3,203 and gave strike authorization. However, the larger Professional Unit, comprised of aerospace and electrical engineers, approved their contract 6,483 to 5,514.
The Technical Unit and Boeing met with a federal mediator on Feb. 27, but Boeing refused to improve its offer.
Union negotiators expressed to members that a second rejection likely would result in a strike.
On March 18, the Technical Unit accepted the deal by a margin of 87 percent to 13 percent.
Technical workers and engineers hired after March 1, 2013 will now receive the company’s “enhanced 401(k)” and not the defined benefit pension.
During bargaining, SPEEA filed seven unfair labor practice (ULP) charges against Boeing. Two complaints — one involving alleged threats made to new hires during orientation, and another on the company’s code of ethics — were dismissed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Region 19, and are on appeal.
Charges that Boeing refused to provide the union with requested information during bargaining, and for threatening layoffs if contracts weren’t ratified, were sustained. The NLRB is now in settlement talks with Boeing.
Three other ULPs involving the company taking surveillance photos of employees; seizing employee cameras and photographs of union marches; and banning employees from leafleting, are still under investigation, said SPEEA Executive Director Ray Goforth.
