EVERETT— The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), Boeing’s largest white-collar union, announced on Thursday that its members approved a four-year contract offer, averting a possible strike.
SPEEA said its professional unit ratified the deal by 67.62%, with 7,895 votes to accept and 3,780 to reject. The technical unit approved its separate contract by a narrower 53.48%, with 2,061 votes in favor and 1,793 against. Electronic voting ran from September 24 through noon Pacific time on October 1. Turnout was 96% in the professional unit and 89% in the technical unit, the union said.
The agreements cover roughly 17,000 engineers, scientists, analysts, planners and technicians, most of them in the Puget Sound region, with smaller groups in Oregon, California and Utah. The professional unit represents about 13,000 engineers and scientists who support research, design, development, testing and maintenance. The technical unit represents about 4,000 employees who provide analytical and technical support. The units bargain at the same time but vote on separate contracts.
The ratified offers include a 10% guaranteed wage increase effective with the pay period beginning Oct. 2, followed by a 4% guaranteed increase in March 2027. Wage pools of 6% are set for 2028, 2029 and 2030, with 4% guaranteed to every represented employee and the remaining 2% distributed selectively on performance. SPEEA said the package produces an average pay increase of 32% over four years, up from 26.5% in the offer members rejected in August, and a guaranteed minimum of 26%.
Boeing estimated that average base salaries would rise from $152,000 to $208,000 for professional-unit employees and from $119,000 to $163,000 for technical-unit employees over the life of the contracts, gains of $11,000 and $8,000, respectively, over the company’s first proposal. The employee incentive plan target increases to 7% effective January 2027. Boeing’s automatic 401(k) contribution rises from 3% to 4% for more than 7,500 represented workers under age 40, also beginning in January 2027. The offers also carry enhanced health care provisions, additional paid leave and revised language on remote work, overtime limits and career planning. Mandatory overtime caps were lowered to 96 hours a quarter for the professional unit and 112 hours for the technical unit.
The vote ends the immediate threat of a walkout after the existing contracts would have expired on Oct. 6. A strike could have begun as early as Oct. 7. Union members support certification work on the 737 MAX 10 and the 777X family, both years behind schedule, and day-to-day engineering for production and deliveries. A stoppage would also have complicated Boeing’s effort to raise monthly 737 MAX output.
Members rejected Boeing’s first offer on August 21. Professional-unit workers voted it down by 64.25%, 7,238 to 4,027, and technical-unit workers rejected it by 71.87%, 2,795 to 1,094. Turnout exceeded 92% in both units. Both units also authorized a strike, by 87.82% among professionals and 89.71% among technical workers. That first proposal tied much of the guaranteed raise to inflation and capped it at 3%, with additional selective money on top.
These were the first full contract negotiations between Boeing and SPEEA in 14 years. Agreements reached in 2013 were extended in 2016 and 2020. Formal bargaining opened July 1. SPEEA’s last strike against Boeing was in 2000, when engineers and technical workers walked out for 40 days over pay and benefits, one of the largest white-collar strikes in U.S. history.
In a message to members, the negotiation team wrote that the union “secured many victories that some thought were completely out of reach when this negotiation cycle started” and credited members’ “individual actions and our collective strength.”
The team added that the work is not finished: “We need to work with Boeing, and as needed, pressure Boeing management through joint committees, forums and conversations within your groups, to rebuild an environment suitable for reestablishing trust with the membership that has eroded over the past decades. Without trust, Boeing and SPEEA will likely find ourselves right back where we were when we started this contract negotiation cycle.”
Author: Mario Lotmore
