Boeing -- SPEEA: SPEEA Files NLRB Complaints -- Prepares for Second Rejection.Business Editors/News Desks SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 2000 The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) is a major Boeing engineering employee labor union. It is often known for its massive member base. External links
SPEEA Seattle Professional Engineering Employees Association ) filed two new unfair labor complaints today with the National Labor Relations Board National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), independent agency of the U.S. government created under the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (Wagner Act), and amended by the acts of 1947 (Taft-Hartley Labor Act) and 1959 (Landrum-Griffin Act), which affirmed labor's right against The Boeing Company. The first charge alleges the aerospace giant never intended to bargain with its technical workers when contract negotiations started in October. The second charges the company with disparate treatment of employees because it has said workers must cross a picket line if they want to enroll in the Learning Together Program -- a tuition reimbursement Reimbursement Payment made to someone for out-of-pocket expenses has incurred. program. The charges come just days before ballots on second contract offers for more 12,000 engineers and 9,000 technical workers will be counted. Union members rejected the company's initial offers by 98 and 99 percent. The second offers are generating similar reactions. Employees represented by SPEEA have been working under contract extensions since Dec. 1. The two charges join a third charge filed in August by the company's second largest union. That charge challenged Boeing's discipline of a negotiating team member after he talked with the media about Boeing culture and morale. &uot;These are tactics that would be employed by someone who is trying to break the union,&uot; said Charles Bofferding, executive director of SPEEA. &uot;We must respond to these actions accordingly.&uot; SPEEA members are presently voting on the company's second contract offers to engineers and technical workers in the Puget Sound Puget Sound (py  `jĕt), arm of the Pacific Ocean, NW Wash., connected with the Pacific by Juan de Fuca Strait, entered through the Admiralty Inlet and extending in two arms c. bargaining units A bargaining unit in labor relations is a group of employees with a clear and identifiable community of interests who are (under U.S. law) represented by a single labor union in collective bargaining and other dealings with management. . Ballots will be counted Wednesday, Feb. 2 at SPEEA headquarters. The union has developed plans to deal with several possible outcomes of that vote. On Thursday, union negotiators reiterated that if members vote down the contract offers again, the union will strike Boeing at 9 a.m., Thursday, Feb. 3. National leaders of the AFL-CIO AFL-CIO: see American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. AFL-CIO in full American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations U.S. have invited Bofferding and other SPEEA officials to meet with them in Washington D.C. next week. The national leaders are expected to discuss how they can best support a strike. As the strike deadline nears, the union continues to gain strength. During the first three weeks of January, 371 represented members of the two bargaining units signed dues authorization cards to become full union members. More than 4,000 Boeing represented employees have joined the union since August. The union now boasts 62 percent membership. Union membership bristled bris·tle n. 1. A stiff hair. 2. A stiff hairlike structure: the bristles of a wire brush. v. bris·tled, bris·tling, bris·tles v.intr. at changes made in the second contract offers. SPEEA negotiators continue to stand firm against co-pays for medical coverage. They also want more guaranteed money and a cash bonus similar to what Boeing has granted the union in the past. The second contract also slashed life insurance benefits. SPEEA represents 22,600 engineers and other technical workers in the Puget Sound region, Wichita, Kansas
Wichita, also known as the Air Capital of the World, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, as well as a major aircraft manufacturing hub and cultural center. ; California, Florida, Oregon, Texas and Utah. &uot;If the membership votes this contract offer down there will be a strike,&uot; Bofferding said. &uot;We are preparing for a long campaign.&uot; |
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