Boeing - SPEEA: Union Objects to Treatment of Leaders.

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 14, 1999--

The union representing engineers and technical workers at Boeing filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Monday (Sept. 9) alleging some officials in the Boeing Company are targeting union leaders in the workplace.

Charles Bofferding, executive director of the Seattle Professional Engineering Employees Association (SPEEA), said it appears that Boeing Corporate officials singled out for discipline the chairman of the union's negotiating team for Boeing's 13,400 engineers.

The treatment of Stan Sorscher, a Boeing engineer of nearly 20 years, is the latest in what union officials believe is a string of incidents involving SPEEA representatives in Seattle and Portland. Sorscher, who holds a Ph.D. in physics, was singled out for using the Boeing company e-mail system to send information to the news media. Sorscher was told this was against Boeing policy. Bofferding said Sorscher should not have been disciplined because none of the information was sensitive or proprietary in nature and sending the data was a protected concerted union activity.

"When they asked him to stop, he stopped, but they didn't stop harassing him," Bofferding said. "Stan Sorscher is a careful, committed Boeing employee. He would never do anything to hurt the company. However as a union official it is his duty to point out problems in the company culture."

Sorscher was a key member of the SPEEA negotiating team during contract talks in 1995. He is presently on the union's executive board and the current negotiating team. The union is currently holding preliminary talks with Boeing. Formal negotiations on a new contract for the engineers and 9,200 technical workers start Oct. 25. The SPEEA contract expires Dec. 1.

"This is the environment Boeing is creating for negotiations," Bofferding said. "Boeing says they want to work together but the actions of a few speak louder. With certain individuals in the Boeing Company taking these kinds of actions against good employees, it's no wonder (Boeing CEO) Phil Condit had to bail out the IAM (International Association of Machinists) contract negotiations."

SPEEA, Boeing's second largest labor union, represents more than 22,600 Boeing Company employees. Members work in seven states, including Washington, California, Florida, Kansas, Oregon, Texas and Utah.