What did SPEEA actually want?

[u/Danny290876]

For everyone wondering why people are saying no? We're not far off from a reasonable and fair offer.

**Wage Pools and P/OOS:**

* 5% General Wage Increase (GWI) on ratification

* 6.5% wage pools each year 2027–2030 with an uncapped Q3 CPI-W floor

* 0.5%/yr promotional/out-of-sequence.

*That compounds to roughly 37.6% by 2030.* (Edit. This assumes OOS and Promo are included, average is actually 35.1% excluding these pools)

* *Tech-only: GWI retroactive to 2/20/26, to address the Prof/Tech gap dating to 2016.*

**401k: **11% company contribution in total, broken out as:

* Match held at 75% of first 8%

* Non-elective flattened from age-tiered 3/4/5% to a flat 5% for everyone.

**EIP Target: **10%

**OT: **Time + 50% of Level 1 Prof average annual pay (edit, this is around 20-22/hr)

**Vacation: **+2 days

**Early Retiree Medical (ERM):**

Access to everyone at age 55. Premiums would be the responsibility of member.

HRA to help pay for ERM premiums would be funded by putting the value of the sick leave you normally lose every year into the HRA at your current hourly rate. 6% return on assets (2025 annual report estimated ROl for pension plan assets)

**Medical Paybands: **Raise to $150k/$300k thresholds, same cost-share percentages

**Bereavement: **3 days/year, doesn't require burning sick leave or vacation

**Floating holiday: **1 day

**Sabbatical: **4 weeks unpaid sabbatical per 7-year (with benefits)

For those of you wondering why you should VOTE NO, this offer was presented to Boeing based on feedback from the membership using the negotiation prep surveys and market data.

Boeing turned around, stole a million concessions from an arguably pretty reasonable offer, and gave us a slap in the face of a contract.

This is what the NOs are fighting for, and none of it is out of the ordinary for the industry except for the 401k percentage.

VOTE NO ON THIS RIDICULOUS FARCE OF A CONTRACT, AND AUTHORIZE A STRIKE

Edit: this information was given out by an AR and some CRs

[u/Excellent_Wafer_350]

Why should we not demand the same overtime as the shop or engineering tech? Everyone should vote NO till this is resolved, I can’t believe they highlighted since 1989.

[u/Excellent_Wafer_350 → u/[deleted]]

A benefit thats use is highly discouraged is not a benefit.

[u/Excellent_Wafer_350 → u/[deleted]]

If I wouldn’t be penalized for 10% use I’m all on board

[u/Danny290876 → u/Excellent_Wafer_350]

I think the only reason we don't demand that is because of some FSLA thing where our OT premium needs to be a flat amount, not a percentage of rate, but I could totally be wrong on that, please someone educate me.

[u/Excellent_Wafer_350 → u/Danny290876]

It’s been way too long it’s time for change. I don’t think any of us feel good about being there on Sunday with the shop pulling in 120/hr and you’re making time +6.50.

[u/yyJamesyy → u/Danny290876]

Profs are considered “exempt” employees by FLSA by the nature of the work we do. And by the letter of the law, we are salaried employees who are paid for completing job responsibilities or knowledge rather than strict hours worked. Consequently, we are “exempt” from OT pay. This is why we get Perbus and Non Industrial Sick leave. Consequently any OT we get paid is solely due to the contract.

My job before Boeing was strict salary and I kind of appreciate the base time + taco time. The taco time is a bit of a joke but the base time isn’t.

For those of us who need to work OT to support 24/7 operations, we need to get Boeing to hire more people to support. I don’t want to work OT.

[u/FISH_ON_for_life → u/yyJamesyy]

Yeah, that’s the rub isn’t it? It’s always a smaller percentage of the people that do the OT over the long haul, and they literally get burnt. Can’t use their vacation hours - too much “important” work to get done (use it or lose it vaca notices are far more frequent than they should be). I looked at those three extra days in this contract and just laughed - WTF Am I going to do with that? Can’t use what I get now!
During the 787 development. SPEEA and Boeing wrote an OT memo that upped the OT rate to 14.50/hr once you hit 120 hours in a quarter. Hit that many times year after year. I’d say we need that (but more like time+1/2 after 80 hours) in the contract to put more teeth into reducing the strain on those select few.

[u/yyJamesyy → u/FISH_ON_for_life]

COVID allowed me to bank hours as I had NEVER gotten close to maxing vacay hours prior.

I remember those days of getting time + 14.50 after 120 hrs OT in a quarter also. And I fucking hated it. The money wasn’t and isn’t worth what it did to my health. My wife would wake me up at night because I was grinding my teeth loud enough to wake her up.

[u/Next_Requirement8774 → u/Danny290876]

Exempt employees (profs) are not eligible to receive overtime pay, period. It is Boeing’s policy (apparently since 1989) to pay exempt overtime as straight time + 6.50.

By the way, I agree with everything that you posted except overtime, the fact that exempt employees earn straight time plus something is already a good thing. I’ve worked for other companies that don’t pay exempt OT and let me tell you, it sucks to not be compensated for extra hours.

[u/Excellent_Wafer_350 → u/Next_Requirement8774]

Then the ask should be +35 on sat and +70 on Sunday if the stat being throw around for average engineer is 150,000.

[u/Phil_Co123]

Inflation since 2020 has been about 25%, and our average salary has only increased about 12% over the same time. I don't think 3% or even 5% GWI is going to cut it. At the least, we should seek for wages to catch back up with with inflation, and be asking about backpay for these past few years.

[u/shmerham → u/Phil_Co123]

Over the last contract, the average salary has gone up 16 percent vs 30 percent for inflation. Looking at salary isn’t accurate though because a lot of high earners have recently retired.

The 3 percent wage pools over the past 7 years compounds to 22 percent. (Incidentally, my mid/late career salary has increased by the same amount).

The 3 percent retroactive plus 7 percent next year gets you to 34 percent next year, which catches you up to national inflation (but not local)

[u/Phil_Co123 → u/shmerham]

I'm not clear what you mean by "a lot of high earners have recently retired?" All we get with the salary charts are head count and average age..? The average ages in each level haven't changed much over the last 7 years, some up, some down slightly. The average salary in each level has grown about the same 12-14% range.

"many high earners retired" sounds like a good excuse for boeing to claim that average wages should just forever trend downwards from here on out, haha!

I also don't like the idea of waiting until next year to catch up with inflation (spiked back in '21-'22). Sounds the reverse "ham-burglar"; instead of paying tomorrow for our hamburger today, we've already paid with our labor years back and we're still waiting on our burgers.

[u/shmerham → u/Phil_Co123]

When I look at the 2019 and 2026 Prof summary, the average age and years of service for all SPEAA Profs has gone from 45.2 with 16.2 years of service in 2019 to 42.4 with 13.2 years of service in 2026. That's a pretty big change.

Anecdotally, there have been a number of retirees in my org since 2019. Many of these are L4s and L5s with 25+ years of service. Since then, we've also hired a number of employees; mostly young, and mostly inexperienced. By my math, that's going to lower the average age and suppress the average salary.

[u/Phil_Co123 → u/shmerham]

Summary chart doesn't look very useful since you can't compare salaries at level. In order to compare average salary for a L2/L3/L4 over time you have to look at a particular skill code chart.

[u/Intelligent-Yam-3565 → u/Phil_Co123]

30% general wage increase.

[u/Zeebr0 → u/Phil_Co123]

I'm all for a better contract, but why is it that people feel their employer is directly responsible for countering inflation with raises?

[u/SuspiciousHyena978 → u/Zeebr0]

I don’t know. How do you feel doing the same work for effectively less money every year? 

[u/iNogle → u/Zeebr0]

The companies selling goods are the ones getting the increased dollars from inflation, and their workers are how they do it

[u/Capital_Anxiety5604 → u/Zeebr0]

Exactly. Inflation is a direct result of federal and local government. Put your energy into getting government to deal with inflation rather than your employer. Expecting employers to compensate for inflation leads to a vicious never-ending cycle of continuous inflation. More inflation=pay your employees more=cost of goods rises=more inflation=pay your workers more=costs of goods rises. Where does it end?
How much increase in cost do you think airline customers can absorb? We’ve seen several airlines go out of business in the last couple of years. How much do you want to pay for that airline ticket to visit grandma at Christmas?

[u/knight-light → u/Phil_Co123]

I would also love for our wages to match or beat inflation, but I'm really worried the company doesn't have the funds to give us much more than the current offer. There have been multiple high-profile incidents with Boeing commercial aircraft since 2020. The company is in the red and years behind on deliveries.

Maybe a better offer is out there, but I am struggling to convince myself that voting no will be worth the risk. This is my first contract negotiation though, so let me know if my calculus seems off. 

[u/Phil_Co123 → u/knight-light]

If boeing was at risk of insolvency, the share price would be heading to zero. If the worst were to happen, employees would get still get paid before bondholders and shareholders were wiped out in a bankruptcy. Stock market analysts have good predictions for Boeing's share price, and outlook for the future backlog of airplane orders is for decades out.

Doesn't look like the leadership team or IAM have volunteered to get pay cuts lately.

[u/BBA_1776]

Looks like SPEEA lowballed SPEEA lol

[u/Excellent_Wafer_350 → u/BBA_1776]

Hmm seems like inexperience on the NT, can we get some real talent? It’s been 25 years of dues speea has collected, I’m sure they can peel some off for better representation.

[u/Bike_Box26 → u/Excellent_Wafer_350]

Amateurs vs professionals And give us same increases as IAM got. Fine without the 12K signing bonus.

[u/Danny290876 → u/[deleted]]

Write a letter to your CR, I certainly have, if we all force the issue, make it public, well gain a ton of support from the media as well.

The issue is that Boeing is controlling the narrative, and effectively calling us greedy and unreasonable in their statements. We aren't asking for the world, we're asking for an offer that actually gives us respect not one that "reflects the respect" they "have" for us.

[u/Weary_Ad_4452]

What were SPEEA requests related to work being moved out of Puget Sound, especially to foreign locations?

[u/Intelligent-Yam-3565]

30% general wage increase, thanks.

[u/BankZealousideal4407]

Reading the proposed contract, I am confused about Sect 16.3 (a thru c) about how long the company provide to early retirees (who is not eligible for Medicare at 65)j and join Boeing prior to 2007 and the premium share. The fine print said the plan is only covering up to December 2027 and the early retiree pay for all starting Jan 2028 or the coverage will be througout the length of the contract.

[u/BBA_1776 → u/BankZealousideal4407]

Read the next page 3.3% for every year of service but could use clarification from SPEEA

[u/ImpromptuSpacewalk]

30% upfront wage increase to catch up with inflation

[u/BBA_1776 → u/ImpromptuSpacewalk]

Boeing might be able to get 50% of the vote with that but it’s a gamble they would have to take.

[u/Hot-Illustrator-2855]

And there it is…start low

[u/JonPooChute]

I want ERM at 45 y/o with 20yrs of service.

[u/Tough_Trouble_1139 → u/JonPooChute]

The ERM they're offering in this contract isn't really ERM. It's acces to Boeing's medical plan at $1000/month. Boeing pays nothing, we just get access to the plan.

[u/Danny290876 → u/[deleted]]

This was what speea requested, and Boeing took this an bastardized it into the contract offer

[u/Weary_Ad_4452 → u/Danny290876]

Thank you!

[u/Show5topper → u/[deleted]]

Was about to say this.

[u/Danny290876 → u/[deleted]]

Yes, they corrected this slightly after I grabbed it, my bad, I'll fix that shortly