‘Go get your money’: Gee and Ursula divided on pending Boeing strike after engineers reject contract

Members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) rejected Boeing’s contract offer and authorized a strike if negotiations fail, according to results the union announced Friday.

SPEEA IFPTE Local 2001 represents about 17,000 engineers, scientists, and technical workers. They rejected the company’s offer by wide margins, with more than 88% supporting strike authorization. Ninety-two percent of eligible union members voted.

SPEEA’s Professional Unit, which represents nearly 13,000 engineers and scientists, rejected its proposed contract 64.3% to 35.7%, with 7,238 voting no and 4,027 voting yes. The Technical Unit, which represents more than 4,000 analysts, designers, technicians, and other specialists, rejected its contract by an even wider margin of 71.9%, with 2,795 voting no and 1,094 voting yes.

“Go get your money. Go get it all,” Gee Scott said on “The Gee and Ursula Show” on KIRO Newsradio. “You know who we don’t really talk about? The people that make Boeing go. Because without the people in the trenches, there are no planes. So 30%? Go get your money. I hope you get it.”

The rejected offer would have raised average engineer pay by nearly 30% over four years, added three paid days off, reduced mandatory overtime and expanded virtual work options. Members’ stated objections centered less on pay than on trust: engineering decisions being overruled in favor of production schedules, and Boeing’s continued movement of jobs out of Washington, including plans announced earlier this year to move as many as 300 engineering jobs to South Carolina.

“I’m looking at this saying, ‘Your own negotiating team thinks it looks pretty good. Read the room,'” KIRO host Ursula Reutin said. “I don’t know how much better it’s going to get. I don’t know that Boeing is fail-proof.”

Boeing’s roughly 33,000 machinists, represented by the International Association of Machinists District 751, went on strike for nearly two months in 2024 before ratifying a contract with a 38% wage increase over four years, pushing average machinist pay toward $119,000 a year — a deal that’s now shaping how some engineers view their own union’s position at the table.

“A few people I’ve spoken with who are affected by this said the machinists go on strike, and they get more, and a lot of machinists are now making even more than engineers,” Ursula said. “That was one thing that was brought up to me, and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.'”

Gee pushed back on the idea that a strike carries real risk for Boeing’s public standing.

“Out of all the stories that we’ve talked about over the last two, three years, Boeing ain’t missed a beat,” Gee said. “We are constantly talking about what the shareholders get, what the CEOs get. When it comes to the employees, get your money! The reason why Boeing is what it is today is because of the people in the trenches.”

WA tightens unemployment rules for striking workers

A separate policy change could affect SPEEA members if a walkout happens, as Washington changed the rules for its new unemployment benefits for striking workers. Starting Sunday, striking workers who want unemployment checks must actively look for another job by completing three job search activities per week and documenting them.

Washington had previously waived that requirement for strikers on the grounds that they remained attached to their employer, according to The Washington State Standard, but the U.S. Department of Labor determined the exemption isn’t allowed under federal law, since a striking worker’s separation isn’t employer-initiated. Striking workers can still receive up to six weeks of benefits, but must now actively job hunt to keep receiving them.

“I disagree with the whole idea of basically paying someone unemployment benefits while they choose to go on strike,” Ursula said. “That’s a disincentive to try to actually work something out, because you know how many people I’ve heard say, ‘Man, this would be great. I’ll just get the six weeks.'”

“I don’t know if that’s actually great,” Gee said. “I have never been on strike, right? But I’ll say this: I’d imagine going on strike might be a stress even if you’ve got six weeks, and then you’re thinking, ‘OK, well, what about after that?'”

“There are some people who would say, ‘You know what, I can do it for six weeks, I would like some time off,'” Ursula said. “Not everybody, but are there people? Yes. And I had a conversation with one of them yesterday who said exactly that. They said, ‘You know what? This would be just some time I could take off. I would still get the benefits, and then I’ll worry about, yeah, let’s get back to the bargaining table.'”

“I’ve never in my life wanted to make two-thirds of my income,” Gee said. “And I don’t know anybody that does.”

Watch the full discussion in the video above.

Listen to Gee and Ursula on “The Gee and Ursula Show” weekday mornings from 9 am to 12 pm on KIRO Newsradio.