Negotiations For New Labor Contract Showing Progress

After a two-hour session held Friday, negotiators from the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace and the Boeing Company reported "some progress" had been made toward hammering out a new labor contract.

Ray Goforth, SPEEA's executive director, said, "Our team is taking Boeing's interests seriously and developing carefully thought out counter-proposals. The process is genuine and time-consuming."

Boeing presented its initial contract offer Thursday, but SPEEA officials were disappointed that it didn't meet union expectations on wages, health care and outsourcing.

At Friday's session, SPEEA and Boeing negotiators discussed health care, retirement plans, sick leave and vacation pay. SPEEA communications director Bill Dugovich said counter-proposals on compensation would be presented at Saturday's session.

Two major obstacles remain to be resolved: Boeing's proposed change in pension for new employees, which offers new employees a 401k-type pension instead of the traditional plan, and the company's plan to exclude 100 Utah defense engineers from the Puget Sound region contract, the Everett Daily Herald reported.

Both sides confirmed their willingness to extend the time frame of the negotiations beyond next Tuesday's target date for finishing the talks. "We've always said we'll stay as long as it takes to get a good contract," Dugovich said.

With the current contract set to expire December 1, SPEEA represents almost 20,500 engineers and technical workers in Washington, Oregon, California, and Utah. If productive talks between Boeing and SPEEA negotiators continue, workers can continue working and Boeing can avoid a potential second labor strike of the year.

FMI: www.boeing.com, www.speea.org