Posted Friday, January 11, 2013 on www.speea.org
Boeing Still Set On Cuts and Takeaways
The Boeing Company on Jan. 11th presented a partially modified offer to our Prof and Tech Negotiation teams, but was unwilling to provide our team with a complete document. The pieces provided indicate smaller wage and Ed Wells training program cuts than previously proposed. Verbally, the company indicated that they still intend medical cost increases, elimination of the pension for future hires and reduction of growth in retirement benefits for the existing 23,000 engineers and technical workers.
In a departure from longstanding practice, Boeing refused to provide the offer electronically today, but indicated they will do so next week. Working through federal mediators, the company said it needed four days to assemble all the pieces of its offer into a complete document.
While refusing to provide the complete offer to SPEEA, Boeing rejected our request that the parties work privately through the mediators rather than negotiating publicly. The company indicated that they intend to try and bypass the negotiating team by “selling” the offer directly to members. Boeing has already launched an aggressive public relations campaign claiming that Boeing corporate’s proposed cuts are actually “improvements.” Members are encouraged to watch the special 18-minute “Trust Me” video at www.speea.org.
“It was profoundly disappointing that Boeing corporate yet again gave us mere pieces of an offer and refused to provide it electronically,” said Ryan Rule, Professional Team member. “As members may recall, we found numerous takeaways in the last company offer which they hadn’t bothered to flag as changes. This incoherence in corporate contract configuration control is baffling.”
“It’s difficult to understand how Boeing corporate can legitimately claim that they need four days to print out their offer or put that same offer on a flash drive for our negotiating teams,” said Sandy Hastings, Technical Team member. “What are they trying to hide?”
While the major cuts and takeaways are readily apparent, based on the number of items Boeing hid without mentioning in its first offer, our teams and SPEEA staff know they need to be able to review the company's offer line-by-line in order to provide a comprehensive assessment to the membership. The company’s inexplicable delay in providing their full offer prevents a comprehensive analysis.
Support for the SPEEA negotiations continues to grow.
Addressing the SPEEA Council Thursday, IFPTE President Greg Junemann said to remember that Boeing tried to push SPEEA members to accept cuts and takeaways in 2000.
“Your negotiating teams’ focus is negotiating a contract that respects your contributions without going out on strike,” Junemann said. “But, the folks in Chicago need to hear this loud and clear: If they provoke a strike by SPEEA again, all of IFPTE, and a whole lot of the labor movement, is ready to show them again that engineers and technical workers deserve respect and their fair share of this company’s remarkable success.”
Negotiations are scheduled to resume at 1 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 16.
Prof and Tech Negotiation Team members encourage members to talk to co-workers, send comments to management and maintain workplace visibility with desk tents and activities. New video messages and a contract offer section are on the website.