Boeing employees approve new contracts

SEATTLE -- Boeing Co.'s engineers and technical workers in Washington state have overwhelmingly approved new three-year contracts.

The agreements included raises and pension boosts but also increased the workers' share of medical care costs.

Both the engineers and the technical workers approved their contracts by identical percentages, with 88.2 percent voting yes and 11.8 percent voting no, the union said.

Approximately 12,000 workers participated in the mail vote.

Approval did not necessarily mean workers got what they wanted, said Charles Bofferding, executive director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, Boeing's second-largest union.

"I think the strong yes vote is a reflection of people understanding that indeed it was a contract that made sense," he said after the vote was announced late Monday night.

The union's leadership had recommended approval, saying it was the best contract possible given the severe economic downturn that has hit the commercial aviation industry and affected the Chicago-based aircraft manufacturer.

While it did not address all the union's desires, it was "negotiated in a positive, professional manner" that addressed most needs and "positioned us well in the future," Bofferding said.

Company officials said the vote removed an element of uncertainty.

"Having reached these important contract agreements, we can now move forward with our continued focus on supporting our customers," Alan R. Mulally, head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in a statement.

SPEEA said the contracts covered about 17,500 Washington state employees who work primarily in Boeing's commercial airplanes division. Their contract expired Sunday.

Third proposal

A third proposal, covering 1,300 engineers in Wichita, Kan., is scheduled for a vote on Wednesday, a day before that contract expires.

SPEEA's vote came 2 1/2 months after Boeing's largest union, the machinists, narrowly averted a strike over its contract proposal. Machinists union members rejected the offer, but failed to authorize a strike, triggering an automatic adoption of the contract under union bylaws. Machinists, who have lost thousands of members in the past year because of layoffs, had sought stronger job security language.

SPEEA's top issues were increased salaries and benefits. The union, which has lost more than 2,300 members because of cutbacks in the past year, also wanted stronger job security provisions.

Merit raises

Under SPEEA's Washington state offers, Boeing offered a mix of guaranteed and merit raises for employees from a fund that is equal to 4 percent of the bargaining unit's total salary base in each year of the three-year contract.

In addition, the company offered 6 percent contract-ratification bonuses, totaling about $4,800 for engineering workers and $3,430 for technical.

Jerry Robinson, a Boeing engineer since 1980 and a former member of the union executive board, was among those voting to accept.

"They exceeded my expectations," he said, adding he hadn't expected a bonus, or a wage increase in the first year.

"I felt that given the circumstances of 9-11 ... that there was nothing more to be gained," Robinson said.

Boeing also promised pension increases, from $50 to $58 a month per year of service, in the first year of the contract. In the subsequent two years, the payments would increase to $59 and then to $60 a month per year of service.

SPEEA technical workers in Washington earn on average $53,469 and the engineers make about $75,000. SPEEA workers in the Wichita unit earn an average $56,226.

The union also represents 3,600 other workers in seven states whose contracts were not up for negotiation.