Boeing 777
Boeing's union of engineers and technical workers overwhelmingly rejected the aerospace giant's first contract offer in ballots tallied Monday night. (AP Photo)

Boeing engineers, tech workers voting on contract

February 19, 2013 @ 5:15 am

SEATTLE (AP) - The union for Boeing's engineers and technical workers is counting ballots Tuesday on a contract offer and whether to authorize a strike.

The union, Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, is recommending that members reject the offer because it would not provide pensions to new employees. They would have a 401k retirement plan instead. The union calls that unacceptable. Boeing says the change is important to the company's future.

The union also wants the authority to call a strike if subsequent negotiations fail.

The union represents 23,000 employees, mostly in the Puget Sound region. Negotiations began in April and union members rejected one offer in October. The previous contract expired in November.

SPEEA went on strike for 40 days in 2000.


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
More Local News
Top Stories

  • Otherworldly
    Amazon has new plans for huge biospheres on its new campus

  • One
    Microsoft calls its new Xbox 'truly intelligent TV'

  • Skillet Spreads
    Seattle's Skillet Street Food and its creator are growing way beyond the Airstream
MyNorthwest.com - Purpose of Comments statement
Bonneville Media encourages site users to express their opinions by posting comments. Our goal is to maintain a civil dialogue in which readers feel comfortable. At times, the comments can descend to personal attacks. Please do not engage in such behavior. We encourage your thoughtful comments which: have a positive and constructive tone, are on topic, are respectful toward others and their opinions. Bonneville reserves the right to remove comments which do not conform to these criteria.

Comments (3)


  • Add A Comment

  • shark75 wrote...
    This is no news
    October 1, 2012 11:11 am
    Do us a favor and just give us breaking news if any union approves a contract...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • messiah101 wrote...
    Years ago newspaper had a LABOR section where
    October 1, 2012 12:19 pm
    The workers side was explained. It would be wonderful to see that again.Why not give us more detail as to what the workers are asking for,are they asking for a FAIR deal or shooting for the moon?It seems that at this BOOM time at Boeing that if the various Unions cannot get a good deal they never will
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rick W7PSK wrote...
    we are asking for fair,
    October 1, 2012 12:59 pm
    In fact we would have been happy to accept the current offer for 4 more years. Boeing however is going for the throat. They wanted us to use their spread sheet to tell us how good it was.

    I would lose 3k a year, and thats giving my self a generous 4% pay raise which is more than likey not what would happen as a tech. We were given 2% but not everyone gets 2%, its divided out by the supers. Those that Brown nose well get 8 - 10%. Guess how many get 0 to let those that get 8 - 10% that raise.

    A lot of my co workers would lose about the same or more.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }