Boeing’s engineering workforce just sent a very clear message: try again.
Members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, known as SPEEA, voted to reject the company’s proposed four-year contract offers on August 21. The professional unit, which covers roughly 13,000 engineers, turned down the deal with a 64.25% rejection rate. The technical unit, representing about 4,000 workers, was even less impressed, rejecting their offer at a 71.87% clip.
But the rejection votes weren’t even the headline number. Both units overwhelmingly authorized a strike, with 87.82% of professional unit members and 89.71% of technical unit members backing the move.
What the deal offered, and why it wasn’t enough
The proposed contracts included wage increases of approximately 29.4% to 31.9% over four years. The sticking point: inflation-linked raises were capped at 3%. SPEEA’s bargaining unit councils had recommended rejection before the vote, arguing that wage growth simply wasn’t keeping pace with the cost of living.
