Originally published Friday, October 17, 2008 at 12:00 AM
Comments (0)
E-mail article
Print view
Boeing and SPEEA begin serious discussion
Union negotiators representing Boeing engineers and technical workers said a meeting Thursday with management's negotiating team was the...
Seattle Times aerospace reporter
Union negotiators representing Boeing engineers and technical workers said a meeting Thursday with management's negotiating team was the first to engage in real discussion. The talks were "heated and confrontational" at times and agreement was confined to minor, uncontroversial issues.
"The only positive thing from the meeting was that they gave us reasons they are saying no to a few things," said Ray Goforth, executive director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) in an interview Friday.
Goforth said that the two sides did tentatively agree on a list of things, but that these were all cosmetic, clerical or items that will be unchanged from the last contract. "None of them are substantive," he said.
Still, heated discussion counted as progress from no discussion, he said.
In a message to company managers about the meeting Boeing's chief negotiator, Doug Kight, expressed cautious optimism.
"At times the talks have been difficult — as is the case in most contract negotiations — but we also believe that we have made substantive progress," Kight wrote. "That said, a lot of hard work remains to be done."
SPEEA is negotiating contracts covering nearly 21,000 workers in Washington, Oregon, Utah and California.
The two sides begin full-time, intensive main-table talks at the Seatac Doubletree Inn on Oct. 28
Negotiators hope to have a proposal ready by mid-November for mail-in voting. Existing contracts expire Dec. 1.
Boeing commercial aircraft production workers, who are represented by the International Association of Machinists, have been on strike since Sept. 6.
Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company
E-mail article
Print view Share:
Digg
Newsvine
![]()
Speculation grows for Boeing 787 plant in South Carolina
New planes will have air bags and sturdier seats

2009 fireworks time lapse
With strict parking rules enforced at this year's July 4th celebration on Wallingford Ave North, less cars and more spectators filled the streets.
Entertainment | Top Video | World | Offbeat Video | Sci-Tech
- Seattle may allow homeowners to build backyard cottages
- Landmark Smith Tower mostly vacant
- Police: McNair's girlfriend bought gun Thursday
- Property taxes: Appeals shoot up in King, Snohomish Counties
- Mariners Blog | What the Seattle Mariners learned on their road trip
- Palin links resignation to 'higher calling' and blasts media in Facebook posting
- Former NFL MVP McNair killed
- Hard times for tourist towns means good deals for travelers
- Brier Dudley | Brier Dudley | Learning hard lessons from Boeing giveaways
- New laws help tenants evicted due to foreclosure
- Palin links resignation to 'higher calling' and blasts media in Facebook posting
215 - Tukwila residents rally against light-rail noise
142 - What Mariners learned on this road trip
133 - Tent City on campus: UW stalls decision
117 - Seattle may allow homeowners to build backyard cottages
91 - FBI denounces rumors: Palin not investigated
89 - New laws help tenants evicted due to foreclosure
67 - Bicyclist fatally hit by SUV outside Bremerton
61 - 2 wounded in Central District drive-by shooting
59 - Bellevue ordinance would fine retailers for not collecting runaway shopping carts
59
- Property taxes: Appeals shoot up in King, Snohomish Counties
- Seattle may allow homeowners to build backyard cottages
- Researchers stunned by inmates' success raising endangered frogs
- Hard times for tourist towns means good deals for travelers
- Landmark Smith Tower mostly vacant
- 250 gather in field near Twisp for fairy congress
- New laws help tenants evicted due to foreclosure
- Plasma and LCD beware; OLED screens ready to go mainstream
- Seattle safety project: A snake shelter on Beacon Hill
- Toyota's Toyoda scolds execs for emulating U.S. car companies' mistakes

