One Strike Over, Boeing to Talk With 2nd Union
As thousands of striking Machinists grabbed headlines last month, Boeing Co.’s other big union quietly submitted its wish list for a new contract.
Engineers and technicians could have seized an opportunity to talk tough while Boeing already was under pressure from its factory floor workers. They didn’t, but that doesn’t mean the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace won’t pressure Boeing to be generous with its wealth.
The union’s leaders in Seattle, who meet Boeing at the bargaining table Nov. 1, say they’ll ask for many of the same things Machinists got. Their highest priority: keeping a tight lid on healthcare costs. They also want raises -- something the Machinists didn’t ask for -- and a bump in pension pay.
With the new 787 jetliner and several other crucial projects in development, they have plenty of bargaining power. And they’re not shy about saying so.
“We have the most leverage of any work group at the Boeing Co. on the bottom line. We design the process. We design the product. We determine the materials,” Charles Bofferding, the engineering union’s executive director, said in a recent interview at its headquarters south of Seattle.
The last time Boeing had to nail down contracts with its two biggest labor unions, the company was reeling from the economic aftershocks of the 2001 terrorist attacks. It was laying off about 40,000 employees in its commercial-airplane division, and its defense business was suffering too.
The company’s in much better shape today. A sharp rise in commercial-plane orders and brisk business on the military side have helped boost the company’s earnings and stock price.
Yet many airlines are far from rebounding from the downturn, which may turn out to be a bargaining chip in Boeing’s favor.
“It’s very tough to pass on higher costs to the nation’s airlines,” said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with Teal Group.
The union of engineers and technical employees represents about 22,000 workers in the Seattle area and Wichita, Kan. Workers in the Seattle-area engineering unit make an average of $82,000 a year; technical workers average $63,000. Wichita employees average $80,000 a year.
The union argues those salaries are well below the industry average, in some cases just over half what comparable jobs at the high end of the market pay. “We not only want to catch up to the market, we want to lead the market,” Bofferding said. “We think that’s appropriate and a true reflection of our contributions to the company.”
Boeing spokeswoman Debbie Nomaguchi said the company was ready to take a close, hard look at all the numbers. “We’ll work with them to find the right balance in the market,” she said. “We need to be able to attract and reward and retain highly skilled workers.”
The union staged the only full-blown strike in its history five years ago, balking at Boeing’s attempt to push through changes the union argued would have severely weakened workers’ benefits.
In 2002, Machinists fell just shy of enough votes to strike and ended up working under a contract they had initially rejected. The engineering union opted that year to save the fight for another day and settled for a deal that included raises and a pension boost but increased workers’ share of medical costs.
“Everybody remembers 2000. They don’t remember 2002,” Bofferding said. “We didn’t once across the table say ‘strike.’ We negotiated a contract that was arguably the best contract negotiated with Boeing management that year. Nobody noticed.”
The union began preliminary talks with Boeing this spring and says its goal, just like Boeing’s, is to avert a strike.
Negotiators in Seattle meet for what is hoped to be a final round of bargaining on Nov. 1. Wichita’s talks begin Nov. 8. The contract covering Seattle-area workers expires Dec. 1. Wichita’s expires Dec. 5. Two-week mail-in votes are set to begin in mid-November.
Machinists ratified a three-year contract in late September, ending a monthlong walkout by about 18,400 workers in the Puget Sound region, Gresham, Ore., and Wichita. They make about $59,000 a year on average.
The Machinists’ new contract gives workers $70 a month in pension pay for every year worked -- up from $60 a month in the contract that just expired. It holds healthcare premiums at their previous levels and provides for cash bonuses of about $11,000 per worker over the three years, instead of a wage increase.
