Boeing engineers, tech workers reject contract offer
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Boeing engineers, tech workers reject contract offer
KUOW |<br>By<br>Joshua McNichols
Published August 21, 2026 at 3:24 PM PDT
AP
The Boeing logo is displayed at the company's factory in Renton, Wash., on Sept. 24, 2024. The Federal Aviation Administration is seeking $3.1 million in fines from the aircraft maker over safety violations.
Boeing’s engineers and tech workers have rejected the company's latest contract offer.<br>Bryan Corliss is a spokesperson for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, Boeing’s white collar workers’ union.<br>He told KUOW the union’s negotiating team actually endorsed the offer.<br>“They thought it was a good one," he said. "We did have the largest wage pool increases in the last 40 years. We got significant movement on just about every one of our priorities without having to give up anything in return. But our membership said, ‘Hey, this isn't enough.’”
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Corliss said the union has begun surveying members, and will take their feedback into the next round of negotiations. But one pattern is already clear: union members don’t trust Boeing’s management.<br>“It's been almost 30 years since the Boeing merger [with McDonnell Douglas]," he said. "There've been a lot of things that our members do not feel good about in terms of the erosion of the jobs done by our union's members, declines in quality, declines in safety, so just a lot of mistrust.”<br>Corliss said the union cannot strike until the current contract expires on Oct. 6, but the “no” vote puts a work stoppage on the table after that date has passed.<br>In a statement, Boeing vice president and functional chief engineer for Production Engineering, Ben Nimmergut, said the company will now have to tap money it would have invested in workers – and spend it on preparing for a strike.<br>"We have no choice but to implement our contingency plan,” he wrote. “We have a responsibility to the rest of our workforce and our customers to build on our progress over the last two years and maintain our momentum.”<br>No further talks with SPEEA are scheduled, he added.
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Joshua McNichols
As KUOW's Growth and Development reporter and co-host of KUOW's Booming podcast, Joshua's "growing pains" beat sits at the nexus of housing, transportation, urban planning, government and the economy. His favorite stories also include themes of history, technology, and climate change.
See stories by Joshua McNichols
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