SPEEA union announces tentative contract agreement with Boeing for engineers, technical workers

SEATTLE -- The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) announced Wednesday that it has reached a tentative contract extension with Boeing affecting more than 20,000 Boeing engineers and technical workers.

It said the six-year contract extensions include "market-leading wages, continued retirement benefit growth, a choice of comprehensive medical plans and enhanced job security language."

The deal, approved by SPEEA's executive board,  will be sent to members next week. Votes will be counted at union headquarters in Tukwila on Feb. 10. If ratified by members, the extensions take effect Feb. 11 and continue through Oct. 6, 2022.

Union leaders said the contract offers address members’ top priorities as outlined in a recent member survey – retirement, health care, salary growth and job security.

“These negotiations were possible because SPEEA and Boeing decided not to let our areas of disagreement prevent us from making progress on items where we do agree,” said Ray Goforth, SPEEA executive director. “These contract extensions are the result of a lot of hard work and good will.  Hopefully, this gives us a template for the future.”

A SPEEA news release said a major improvement contained in these contracts relates to helping SPEEA members affected by Boeing moving work. "Management is committing to use exhaustive efforts to place individuals impacted by such a move," the union said.

"In the unlikely event these placement efforts fail, individuals laid off due to the movement of work will receive a minimum of 26 to a maximum of 60 weeks of pay (2 weeks per year of service) and six months of medical and dental coverage. This protection, along with the doubling of the existing voluntary layoff benefits, would take effect immediately after ratification."

While the majority of workers are at Boeing facilities in the Puget Sound region, the contract offers also cover workers in Oregon, Utah, California and Florida.

The SPEEA Executive Board began formal talks with Boeing after the holiday break, it said.