Engineering union rips Boeing's first full contract offer

Boeing presented its initial full contract offer to engineering union officials Thursday, including pay and pension increases. Details were not publicly released by either side, but union officials reacted negatively.

Ray Goforth, executive director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), in a statement called the Boeing proposal "an offer that completely misses the interests of our members."

"What we received today is disappointing," said Goforth, after Thursday's negotiations ended.

"It is clear difficult talks remain."

SPEEA negotiators were reviewing nearly 100 pages of documents Thursday night and plan to present their counterproposals today.

Boeing lead negotiator Doug Kight said in a statement the two sides have made progress in recent days on the union's concerns about the use of non-Boeing contract engineers.

But he also said Boeing is proposing "slight increases" to employee costs in the company health plan. That's one of the issues that caused the Machinists union strike. Boeing withdrew the proposal to settle the strike.

And in another proposal likely to raise opposition, Kight said Boeing wants to replace the traditional pension with a 401(k)-style retirement savings plan for future hires. Again, the Machinists union roundly rejected a similar proposal in their contract talks; Boeing withdrew it before the strike.

Talks between lead negotiators from Boeing and SPEEA began the final intense phase last week at the SeaTac Doubletree Hotel.

Boeing said it will deliver its "best and final offer" Tuesday. SPEEA's membership is expected to vote on that offer by mail before the current contract expires Dec. 1.

However, the union is uneasy about this timetable and wants to talk longer if necessary.

"It's concerning that Boeing continues to point to an artificial deadline of completing talks next week," said Goforth. "We are prepared to keep negotiating until we have a deal for members."

The union represents more than 20,000 engineers and technical staff — mostly in the Puget Sound region, with a few hundred in Oregon, Utah and California — who design, engineer and integrate new aircraft and military systems.

SPEEA said Boeing engineers on average make almost $89,000 a year in base salary, and technical staff average about $67,000.

With overtime and incentive pay, those averages increase to $108,000 and $82,000, respectively, according to Boeing.

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com