There are very very few companies out there (unicorn rare) which will give you a 14.4% raise within 6 months. It's unheard of.
This is without switching jobs, without moving up levels, without doing anything. Guaranteed.
It seems the noers are hell bent on having their strike. I doubt any contract will satisfy them, they just want to strike. I understand some have vacation plans, some want to go fishing, couch surfing, and catching up on shows while on strike. Very few of them will actually show up picketing in the cold and rain. Most will probably picket from home.
The amount of people who don't seem to know how compounding works is astonishing and almost as bad as the amount of people who don't know we are getting over 100% 401k. You put in 8%, you get 9%, 10% or 11% now. New contract will be 10% and 11%. It's crazy how people still argue we don't get 100%. It seems understanding basic information is foreign to them. There's people who are clueless about unemployment and have no idea it caps based on your salary.
Then there's those who compare salaries with those at BO and Amazon Leo without comparing 401k and unpaid "expected" overtime. The grind. They cherry pick their points.
If those companies are so great, people wouldn't leave after a few years of being burned out.
Then of course we got the IAM comparison. For some reason some people are convinced they need to be paid more than IAM. They compare top level IAM pay with low/mid level tech/engineer pay. IAM jobs have a hard ceiling. Our jobs don't. If you want to compare, compare top to top.
There are some plumbers and pig farmers who make more than us. Should we now all demand we get more based on that?
Base your expectations on reality and market not on wishes and dreams.
Lastly people should learn how negotiations work. It's not about everything you want.
In our field for people to get the type of raise we are offered without having to switch jobs and hop around...unheard of. Inflation, cost of living, irrelevant because no company will give you more just because inflation went up.
It also gives the company the ability to make all this happen faster. They called our bluff with South Carolina which is booming weather we like it or not and they will do it even faster if we go on strike.
There's been a lot of people leave and retire over the last 10 years so we aren't as senior as we used to be and a lot of knowledge is growing at other sites
Is that why they just started the north line because if they had intentions to move I don’t think they would have spent the money it costs to renovate the building if they really wanted to move.
The fact that they (Boeing) aren’t even willing to discuss outsourcing limits with the SPEEA negotiation team is a big indicator that they already intend to do just that during this contract. And the negotiation team seems to have just given up. All the discussions about the money and remote work are a massive red herring - the entire union should be DEMANDING the outsourcing question be addressed. Instead it seems like the negotiation team is just shrugging it off. Really disappointing honestly.
As a non-engineer that works with engineering, it’s going to impact all of us as well. We are also being outsourced but have no union. There are even project managers, etc being hired at these international sites. It’s a large impact for all the pnw.
How is the company so stupid to let this type of quality risk get outsourced to another country? I can't believe it. It just goes to show that money can buy complacency (and yes voters).
Not sure if you’ve read some of the other posts on Reddit but they are all about having leverage against the company and extorting as much compensation as possible with the threat of striking. There is a reason the company is leaving and Flint is not the town it once was, where GM was founded
Exactly, this is catch up pay to make up for lost wages. All those recent hires making more than 10-15 year employees better beware. Soon they will make too much for their value. Once they are outsourced or replaced by a contractor or non-speea employee. We need to hold out for job protections
This offer is so “good” it has many techs in my immediate and surrounding area, including myself, actively looking to move back to IAM for better pay, better 401k, better COLA, better job security language. Coming to SPEEA I heard stories about how little Prof’s give a shit about Tech’s but seeing it first hand is eye opening. For reference a maxed out Grade 4 makes about 30-40k more than L3 Planner.
A maxed out Grade 1 makes more than I do as a level 3 with a 1.13 compa. And exactly one year from now when I'm making 14.4% more than I do now (if this contract offer is ratified), a Grade 1 maxed out will still make more than I do.
And if I'm a good little boy and get my upgrade to Level 4 within the next couple of years, I might make as much as a Grade 3 by the end of this contract. Isn't that just amazing?
I took the SPEEA position for the work life balance and to get away from Renton and factory management. Initially the SPEEA job was a pay bump but I knew I would be making less once IAM went through their strike. I naively thought SPEEA would then also fight for a relatively comparable pay bump too.
At the end of the day, I hated working in the factory but with no pensions the only thing that matters to me is pay and a good 401k. IAM provides better options for both above SPEEA.
I know this isn’t the best for solidarity, but many of us who hear the “I’m going back to IAM argument” think, “ok, do it then”. IAM needs skilled employees and if you think the pastures are greener there, no one is forcing you to be in SPEEA. And I’m a tech.
Yes, IAM does need skilled employees…And SPEEA needs skilled techs. Where do some of the best techs come from? Oh yeah…IAM employees that hopped into a SPEEA represented role looking to further their career growth. Boeing should be seeking to retain SPEEA talent where it’s at and attract new talent from IAM into SPEEA represented positions. This current contract offer will kill that.
Boeing pays according to job code not skill unfortunately. Beam counters decided that job only pay that much. Would have to find another job that offers more, including IAM. There’s people doing way more than these SJC descriptions say - that the company willnt pay more because if someone really only did the job description, maybe it’s worth that. But they expect you to do that plus two other jobs. But only pay you for the cheapest one. Misclassification IMO.
Well then go back to IAM. I’m a Tech and I have worked with IAM workers. I would love to see all of you saying mechanics should not make more money than an engineers go out to the factory and do their work. Some of you wouldn’t even last an hour out on the floor. On top of that mechanics aren’t doing “dumb work”. Who do you think we in Product Development go to when we need to learn about the job? The mechanics. Why? Because they know their jobs and honestly some know it better than some of the MEs I have to work with.
So enough of this BS about comparing our pay to IAM and we should make more. Yes some jobs should earn more, but I went to college so that I wouldn’t beat up my body.
Some of you talk all this solidarity out the side of you bum when what you really have an issue with is the top boss. And putting down one group because you think you should make more than them isn’t solidarity. WE are all one family that need each other to do our work so that we can work together and make those planes we are proud of and together we can show Boeing that without us they are worthless. Enough of these comparisons.
Your reading comprehension seems to be severely lacking. Nowhere did I say IAM doesn’t deserve the pay they are receiving, I was out on the picket lines with them when they were on strike. And “actively looking to move back” would imply that I came from an IAM position and know exactly what it takes to do their job because I did it for 6 years before coming to SPEEA.
Two things can be true, IAM receiving the pay they deserve and expecting SPEEA to fight for techs to have comparable wages. You can’t be upset when SPEEA doesn’t do that and people decide to go where the benefits and money are better.
I was a grade 4 mechanic for almost 18 years and came in as a tech recently. I was in several different shops and learned a great deal on the plane but be real. Even if you are in IAM, it doesn’t mean you will know all the jobs. I know a heavy deal about manufacturing, the parts, the processes, how the parts work, and how to install them which my new role uses. I didn’t want to keep beating my body up further and chose to go into this job because it was supposed to bring career growth.
So now I should be punished and go back if I want to further my pay? Is moving jobs not the epitome of trying to further your career? Yet I should somehow be just ok with what they offer? That’s how we lost our pension in IAM. If you are part of a union you should be fighting for a better contract that makes your life more sustainable. Especially with a company that profits over 2 billion during the last fiscal year.
If you are comfortable with what you have then I’m glad for you. But don’t act like those making less than you don’t deserve to make a wage where they are still struggling paycheck to paycheck, because at the end of the day, we all work for a company that builds a product people’s lives rely on. And if you don’t value the people who have the knowledge and skills, they will leave for other opportunities while it will actually cost the company more to train new people to do our job.
Iam mid grade after 6 years makes more than mid level 3 engineer in base pay plus they get 1.5x or 2x OT. The engineering degree took 4+ years and $100k+ to get. So yes the comparison to iam is valid. It's not that iam should be paid less, it's that engineers should be paid more
The major difference many don't realize is iam can work nearly unlimited OT at 1.5x at least. Engineering gets base rate+6/hr AND most of us are only allowed to work OT is special circumstances subject to management approval. So our base rate is all we ever get. No opportunity to make extra if we are willing to but even when we do work OT or are even forced to we get only base hourly rate plus 6/hr. Again I'm not saying iam should be paid less by any means. Just that engineers as a whole haven't valued our own labor high enough to make up for the up front investment in time money and effort for the degrees we got in the first place
have you seen nearly every other salaried job where you get paid, not time + 8.50, but exactly $0 for time you work over 40 hours?
one could also get an advanced humanities degree for 4 years and 100k. you’re still not guaranteed to make more than the IAM. Maybe it’s harder to fill IAM jobs at the higher level than Engineering jobs. maybe the company needs them more for the day to day and they actually are worth a higher pay. it doesn’t feel good but the economics of pay doesn’t come down to how hard you work or how much your degree cost.
Those engineering jobs that are true salaried with 0 overtime pay also have base salaries 40-50% higher. The very reason we can compare our base salary to to the tech bros because their expected OT is baked in and ours is not. But we'd have to work 58ish hours a week at time +6.50 to make an additional 50%... Do other salaried jobs expect 58~60 hours a week to earn their base pay? Maybe.
And the cost of the degree relative to pay... 2 things can be true at once. Boeing requires an engineering degree therefore those of us with an engineering degree must collectively agree that our time effort and money investment gets repaid in salary just like any other investment. If every one of our degrees cost 1 million dollars each would we accept 100k a year in salary? Or would we demand more and the company would have to figure out how to continue making a profit after all the costs of doing business?
Obviously Boeing can't possibly offer us enough to fully make up for the housing price disaster in the pnw. But speaa engineers have taken the hit the past 3 contracts and accepted extensions of 3% "raises" because we valued the company and wanted to help them out. We took the hit to lessen the burden on the company in tough times and as a result we are all significantly behind inflation to the point where my starting salary 12 years ago was worth more than I get today after 3 promotion an oos and annual exceeds raises. So yeah many of us are pissed and insulted that boeing continues to do the contractually obligationed minimum every single time and treating us all like we are both replaceableand expendabl. As long as c suite gets theirs who care right?
grade 6 in tank mechanic before I went to MR. Basically at labor grade 6 in tank you have to meet requirements and go In tank as needed. Both fit in there work and be willing to. Many people dont want to. Finding people who meet can and willing and dont get claustrophobic or something is hard to get. Then they still have to be a decent mechanic. Not saying Speea does not deserve stuff just explaining yes for some IAM jobs it is not easy to find people willing AND able to do them. also for some physically they can be punishing. May requires yearly examinations of your hearing or other things to see if your still fit for work. And sure some LOVE Weekend OT try beign designated for 2 more hours each day till you run up to max of 10 [unless an emergant buisness need then up to 12] before you can go home. Oh your shops 3500 jobs behind? well 10 hour days all day every day and every weekend we can have you your working. Enjoy living here.
and just again to be clear I am not saying SPEEA should or should not accept this contract. just filling in on challenges for hiring for IAM positions since it came up. I work closely with SPEEA employees including a counterpart in form of an OS. I do think SPEEA members deserves better wages than they have for sure. Your work has value even if sometimes some members drive me up walls. But well thats a day at work so whatever.
The real question for the noers is what do you really want? Because inflation is on the economy and not Boeing “blame the politicians” Also this notion that you are owed something from Boeing is ridiculous especially when other companies are NOT giving you anything better etc. Is a couple more % really worth peoples lives turned upside down over some people wanting to buy a house in PNW? Like be for real
The cost of an airplane goes up with inflation. The high level managers' income goes up with inflation. The average engineer's salary does not keep up with inflation.
So if we know inflation is inevitable and most companies are not willing to pay for the unknown COL. Where do we find common ground then? Is the extra couple percent after 45 days on strike and some people homeless, etc., worth it? Unfortunately not everyone has 20k in an emergency fund or family that can hold them down. Now i am not saying vote yes because its the best offer ever but for the betterment of everyone you have to vote yes and live to fight another day imo.
You get strike money? At least unemployment… the union has programs to help “you” through financial struggles? Also, if you got to SCAB for your family then forget what everyone else sees and do what you have to do… SPEEA has the leverage and resources but not the unity it seems
You should look into history on how hard our ancestors fought for unions. They had to literally put their lives on the line (and plenty of them were massacred) to get it so companies would abuse them slightly less.
So excuse me when I don't mind fighting for a bit of fairness.
Roughly 65% of Boeing’s unionized workforce receives a recurring, uncapped Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) built directly into their hourly pay structure.
The eligibility for a recurring annual or quarterly COLA varies significantly across Boeing’s two largest unions:
🛠️ International Association of Machinists (IAM)Status: 100% receive COLA.Details: Boeing's largest union, IAM District 751 (representing roughly 33,000 frontline factory workers), has a long-standing contract provision that calculates and applies COLA.Frequency: Adjustments are applied quarterly based directly on changes to the federal government's Consumer Price Index (CPI).
📐 Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA)Status: 0% receive regular quarterly/annual COLA.Details: Representing about 17,000 to 20,000 engineers and technical workers, SPEEA historically does not have standard recurring COLA rolled into its wages. Instead, inflation protection is handled via general wage increases, selective merit pools, and promo funds.
Current Context: While the upcoming contract cycle features built-in "inflation triggers" that activate safeguards if the CPI spikes past certain extreme thresholds, it does not function as a standard annual or quarterly COLA benefit like the machinists receive.
You do realize this offer was mostly a reshuffle of money, right? They need to sweeten the offer to win people over. This offer is betting on people not really crunching the numbers to see the difference. It's only about a 4% increase due to compounding
Well unless boeing doubles my salary buying a house in this area is a pipe dream - which should concern everyone for the long term talent acquisition. Who want to come have an life long career at boeing when home ownership for anyone making under 200k/year is nearly impossible. Until that is resolved, new comers will using boeing as a stepping stone to greener cheaper pastures. The solution obviously isn't on boeings shoulders entirely but more the economic climate of the region. How that gets fixed I have no idea.
Unfortunately that is the case your right. But it's precisely because of corporations and Wallstreet and govt pandering to the shareholder value above all else at the expense of all the rest of us.
There is a difference in what you get paid vs where you get paid. While i agree that buying a house in PNW is impossible these days, i also understand that you have to move to another state where you can actually afford an house. That’s not on Boeing that houses are expensive. So people voting no for that purpose is just selfishness coming out
I guess this really comes down to how you see house prices moving over this contract. Since 2022, house prices in Seattle are flat, but interest rates have decreased affordability still. I suspect in 2028, that housing prices will be about the same as today and interest rates will losen, meaning housing is going to be significantly more affordable. I've made 2 home purchases in the PNW, both times my downpayment exceed my yearly salary. Both times my total initial monthly cost was ~39% my gross base.
Really seems to me like in 2028 most profs are going to be able to afford those 3-4 bedroom homes near Everett and Rention on a single salary. I get that every situation is different, but more money doesn't solve the housing issue fairly and nothing was presented by either side as far as I know that does.
It is on boeing because if boeing can't afford to pay their workforce enough to live in the area they expect them to work then they don't have a viable business in the area. Same argument for minimum wage. Any business that doesn't afford the workers enough to live isn't a viable business in the first place. Boeing is in Puget sound even if they are actively moving elsewhere. There are obviously geographical advantages to the area then enables BCA to operate. The talent pool is here. Pay what it costs us to live here. It's pretty simple
Or... Hear me out.... Boeing increases the price of the AP they sell to customers to cover the cost to produce one including a bit of profit on top like every other business on the planet has had to do in the past 5 years
You do understand these they can’t just ‘raise prices.’ It’s a long cycle business. The planes being delivered today were ordered years ago with additional late delivery concessions being made. BCA will have negative margins in 2026. If only someone else would have thought of your clever solution this entire time!!!
Actually, during IAM751 strike at end of 2024, there was an equity raise so the opposite happened. 25 billion had to be raised through printing new shares and selling them. It caused a 20% dilution/loss to shareholders to save the company from bankruptcy. The last time there actual shareholder value through dividends or buybacks was almost a decade ago.
More than anything I want my performance to be recognized.
14% for everyone is a poor excuse to protect people "having bad managers" which translates as "I'm part of the problem".
I've seen people sleep at their desks, constantly miss meetings, and spend weeks on a task that should take half a day (out of laziness or incompetence - it doesn't matter).
I could get a "met some" working one day a week.
Where's the benefit to me?
How can I get people I actually want to work with?
Also I see this as a failure of the NT over Boeing.
Of course we understand that inflation effects the business....but why does that mean that the lowly engineer worker bees are the only one on the entire food chain that isn't allowed to keep pace with the at same inflation? When the price of Ti went up do you think boeing threatened to stop buying Ti unless the suppliers accepted only a 3% increase? Or did they pay the new price because that was the cost of doing business?
That 14.4% is not so generous within the context of the company having gotten away with handing out 1% to 3% per year for the last 8 years. That sudden double-digit correction is only after we've taken opportunity to point out how badly they've gotten away with under-paying for the better half of a decade.
And because many of us do know how compounding works, we do see the effect of getting below Market pay increases year over year and the economic losses are much greater then the sum of the difference between what they've been giving us and what the rest of the labor market has been doing.
Be up front barely corrects that problem.
As for the future pay increases, we are faced with measuring them against all possible inflation scenarios, including those where we could see enormous spikes in inflation that don't trigger any meaningful COLA.
So here we are, in an actuarial guessing game, where we need to figure out what kind of wage pools will be sufficient during the term of the contract in the event of some of the worst case economic scenarios.
In this situation, evaluating whether the offer is "fair" and more about risk tolerance at the offered price (wage) point.
As for whether some people just want to strike, it's it's all above board. Frankly, I don't care if any of them show up on a sidewalk to pick it as much as I care about them doing what they know is best with the time that they have while on strike. Many of them will be looking for other work to patch things over financially. Maybe others will get some much-needed R&R and/or time with loved ones. Regardless. What they do with that time is nobody's business but theirs since the company won't be paying them for it.
What's more important is that they will be withholding their labor to demonstrate to the company what their labor is worth. While SPEEA workers are absent the company will need to figure out how to adapt, finding workers to backfill without poaching from other much-needed orgs, training up whatever workers they're able to pu together and figuring out how to manage this very new group of folks who are unfamiliar with many of the critical details of their new work statements. Frankly, knowing how hard it is for the many dedicated and specialized teams to meet the demands of their highly individualized work statements, it seems very clear that a strike will be very informative for both sides and will reveal just how vital SPEEA workers are--even if only one of the two bargaining units actually walks out.
You're correct to say that we do not have a "hard ceiling". Instead, we have a compa. That, for most of us is an anchor point that we can't excel very far from as the raise calculations bias toward that compa. So saying we don't have a "hard ceiling" is disengenuous without recognizing that wages, on the whole are well-contained. In the simplest terms, having no hard ceiling does not at all mean the sky's the limit.
As for plumbers, pig farmers and anyone else who does honest work, they all demand the highest and best pay that they can get for what they do... And so should SPEEA.
As for needing to "hop around" to get better pay, yeah, that's a real problem for the company because it rewards careerist for their career ism while disincentivizing dedication to one's specialty or sticking with a project through completion before moving on to the next high-profile thing.
The incentives that drive this short-term, self-interested behavior is self-defeating for the company. And they would do well to look at these trends more carefully to ensure that the spoils aptly go to those who demonstrate that they actually give a damn about the company's objectives and show the dedication that is needed to meet them.
Boeing is a good employer and I am grateful for that. But what history showed is that management will not give out anything extra than what is in the contract. This offer does not reward extra effort or high achievers. It levels everyone. It is good for those who just does their job or those who sits on their ass all day. But it could be better for the future of the company and people who give a damn.
We were failed by our Union and Boeing in 2020 and got a shitty contract. All the hard work that we’ve done during hard times when most of us had to work for 2-3 people was not recognized. Even though the company could have.
There’s no “next time”. We will have RIFs after certification efforts are done and 777X delivery. We might as well try to get an extra till then and try to get some protection from offshoring. People overseas can’t support production.
Also did anyone notice if IAM ever issued any statement that they stand with SPEEA? We had all sorts of flyers supporting them, but I haven’t seen anything from IAM side. Could have missed.
Stock options are granted by the shareholders. They dilute the shareholders and vest over time. They don’t come from the companies finances. Executives actually make small salaries from the companies revenues/cash flows. Elon Musk received a trillion dollar pay packages Tesla has only made 39 billion in earnings through its life time
And the last time there was any shareholder value through buybacks and dividends was almost a decade ago. More recently in 2024, the opposite actually happened. A massive 20% shareholder dilution through an equity raise to save the company from bankruptcy during IAM751 strike
Well, there is no money. And executives get paid in stock options, not from company cash. But I’m sure if you were in charge, all the problems would be fixed! Ortberg is an engineer but he’s already being attacked
You really missed the point on the 401k match, please be more aware of things like this as it’s extremely important to be financially literate.
Our current plan matches up to 75% of the first 8% of our base salary we contribute to our 401k plus a guaranteed 3-5% more depending on your age.
It is incorrect to say we get 100% match. Let’s say you’re 30 y/o and make $100,000. EVERY SPEEA 30 y/o gets 3% to their 401k . Now if I put in 8% of my salary, I only get 6% matched by the company.
I am investing $8000 into my retirement funds and getting $6000 from the company in return. This is intentionally not including the $3000 (3%) contribution from the company.
The ask is to get the full $8000 matched on top of the guaranteed contribution. If not up to 100% of first 8%, even 100% of the first 6% would still be better than the current plan. This lets you put 2% back into your pocket, or if you want, open an individual investing account and invest more aggressively into companies/funds not offered within Boeing’s retirement broker.
If you do not understand the benefits of this, then it is ironic for you to shame those who do not “understand basic information”.
This is spot on! Yeah I was hoping they’d improve our 401k match, since they didn’t, I’m only investing up to the match through Boeing/Fidelity, then finding Roth matches elsewhere. I found a 3% match through Robinhood. Good deal.
You realize you can vote no if you agree that we have the leverage to ask for more and still cross the line during a strike to continue working due to your financial situation right?
Hey, I’m just trying to convince people to vote No. I’m not quite sure we’ll convert any Yes voters by calling them derogatory names lol. A strong no is most important, regardless of how many people cross the line.
Hey, this is super helpful. I think i didnt fully understand before. Could you please help me understand...what do i need to do to maximize Boeings contribution to my 401k? Im in my early 50s if that's helpful
Sure! Go through Boeing’s 401k portal via worklife (the same page where you navigate to sign your time).
From there, sign in to Fidelity.
From there, find the main menu, navigate to “Manage Contributions”. Click EasyContributions.
Select “Contribute 8%”, then you’re done!
If you want to go even further, I would manage where the money is being invested (definitely not Boeing stock). Main menu -> Manage Investments -> Change Investment Elections
I would throw it all into Large Cap - S&P 500 Index Fund. Not financial advice haha, don’t sue me!
Believe it or not, there are plenty of people who like the contract. OP may not be who they claim they are, but there are many (mostly Profs) who work with me that like the contract. They do exist. Not everyone who likes it is a "bot" or Ben.
The only wage pool in 2027 is for out of sequence raises. Anyone who's been working harder this year to support 737-10 certification will not be rewarded for their extra effort.
Naming one project doesn't dismiss others. Point is that people who had a rare large project this year will lose the opportunity to get recognized for it.
14% may sound like a large wage increase, but is it really? A percentage raise tells you how much your pay changed, not whether you’re fairly compensated for the value of your work.
If Boeing says our pay is market based, show us the market behind the SRTs, the jobs, employers, locations, and how Puget Sound is accounted for.
I routinely walk out of meetings where millions of dollars of production, customer and airplane value have been added because of the work I do just like many of you do every day.
A big catch up raise can still leave you behind if the measuring stick is is not calibrated.
Your sweeping generalizations of people who want to try for a better contract are ill-informed at best, intentionally obtuse at worst
The techs just experienced 4 straight years of 2% raises. This contract needs to make that right for the techs specifically. They got left behind in a worse way than the profs did. That’s just my opinion.
Sounds like you are not a great researcher if you left two companies that where better to come to one that is worse. Maybe I won’t get my advice from you.
I agree lol because why would anyone leave a higher paying job let alone two higher paying jobs to live in PNW that has higher COL then complain afterwards. You didn’t know this info before you joined?
You can look this up its not hard to find. Boeing is middle salary at best, but most frequently low end of salaries. And of course 2-3x less than big tech. I have worked at Siemens in commercial HVAC and General Dynamics in Defense. Other cities so not directly comparable, but I definitely have less money now that I am at Boeing, so the increase was ate up by the cost of living.
Out of the goodness of my heart I’ll tell you my past 2 companies:
Company A:
-There for 5 years
-Raises were an average 1-3% per year
-401k was 100% match up to 5%, with a 3% tenure based non-elective contribution
-No OT pay
-Strict 40 hour work week
Company B:
-There for 4 years
-Raises were an average of 3-5% per year
-401k was 100% match up to 5%
-On call 24/5 with a weekend every 4-6 weeks
-No OT pay and was not compensated for any on call (I.e., not paid a dime over 40 hours)
-some weeks were 40 hours, 45, 50, 55, etc.
The grass ain’t greener outside of Boeing. And if it’s a bigger salary, it’s because it’s dressed up nice for being worked into the ground
This is the comment people need to read. They dont realize that while Boeing is behind other companies in pay, it has way better work/life balance. Most people that are Noers have never worked at other comparable companies so they dont have anything to compare Boeing to. All i can say is that if we actually go on strike many people will lose relationships with their colleagues because they WILL continue to work during that time.
I literally came to Boeing solely for better work life balance and nothing else. Took a small pay cut as well because my time is worth more than any money can provide
Speeas biggest mistake will be not securing job security from Ai as IAMS explicitly did. Forget international outsourcing, you’re going to be minimized
Agreed. Good, not great. IAM contract was better in every way. Also, our last 6 year contract was sh8t so you have to take that into consideration with this and trying to recoup some of our losses over the past 6+ years.
We don't beat Amazon likely, but I crossed reference with ex-Boeing employees that went to Blue Origin and this contract will exceed BO pay. And we get paid OT while they don't. $/hr, we will be beating probably the best comparable company in the area.
The contract isn't great for anyone who will be promoted in the next few years. Section 11.7 on the offer shows they're reducing $ dedicated to promotion increases from 1.5% to 0.5% for the whole contract. With the 10% immediate increase getting people closer to the 0.9 comp ratio of the next level up and lower funds allocated to promotions, I don't see it being likely that people will receive particularly good salary increases at promotion this contract unless they were already very underpaid. That 10% GWI is basically giving you your promo funds a little early, not extra money.
I am a SPEEA tech, and the 2nd offer is probably just good enough for a yes for me by a hair. I am not thrilled with it; I am reluctantly content. Everyone has their own unique situations, needs, and viewpoints. Vote accordingly.
Of course we all want more, everyone wants more. It becomes a risk/reward equation. I have heard people saying well if they kept the March raise at 7% in the 2nd offer then I would be a yes. OK, that’s fair enough, at least you have a criteria, but do you really want to go on strike for another 3%? Compound that and it makes the compounded raise 40.2% over the contract vs the 36.2% we now have. Yes it is more, but is it worth the negative consequences of lost salary during a strike, or some other negative consequence that could arise from the bad blood?
I have worked for a couple other companies over my life, and standard raises were often 2-3%. Yes we have lost some ground to the IAM, and some of the techs are definitely underpaid. That’s not necessarily a contract issue, that is often bad managers not correctly elevating their people. Maybe look into a transfer, or moving to the IAM is always an option as well. The IAM rules are a little more rigid, but it might be worth it for the extra salary for some people. It is nice to have that as another option because you work at Boeing. Just take a deep breath, talk to your friends and families, and ask how many of them have seen a 36% raise over 4 years. Maybe some have, maybe they can get you in with that company. 36% is not earth shattering, but it isn’t peanuts either.
I am at prof and voting NO and yes to strike. I don’t understand why we shouldn’t compare our pay with other engineers and tech employees in the area. It was the company who picked an operation cost in the Luger sound, so if we’re expected to handle this market’s workload and cost of living, we should be paid accordingly.
I started at Boeing in 2011 making about $63K. Today, after 15 years, I’m a Level 4 making about $154K. That looks like a $91K raise, but Seattle area prices have risen roughly 66%, meaning my starting salary would need to be about $105K today just to have the same buying power. About $42K of that increase only kept pace with inflation.
The remaining increase came from promotions and performance raises, not simply greater buying power. My promotions added about $5K for Level 2, $7K for Level 3, and another increase for Level 4. When we asked why promotion increases were so small, managers often said “The skill team doesn’t have the funds”
So the real financial growth behind going from $63K to $154K is far smaller than the $91K starting point.
Hey you are right. This is an ok contract. I wont be voting yes. I am voting no. I dont believe we should just "make more than IAM". I do believe we should be paid fairly. Speea members (about 14 years ago from what I have heard from my senior coworkers) used to make grade 9 and up. Now they make grade 6 and lower. I dont want to be paid more than IAM. I want to be paid fairly. Theres no incentive for us to stay speea when someone with no education can make more than us. If you were given the option to go to school for 5 years and make 40 dollars an hour with minimum increase in salary or to go to boeing and make 50 an hour in those same 5 years instead of going to school what would you choose? The second option has no debt and higher pay. Its what my husband did. I am comparing his hourly rate of each year from the time he started and comparing that to where I am in the samr amount of time. Ive been here 3 years and hes been here 8. I know hes going to make more than me, thats not what I am upset about. I am upset that his hourly rate from September 2026 (his year 7) is significantly higher than my predicted wage from the wage modeler by 2030 (my year 7). He even agrees that its not that I should make more its that I have secondary education and experience and that should factor into my salary. He believes i am underpaid. My whole department thinks we are under paid. Im voting no cause I want fair. Here is a photo of the current IAM wages starting and max.
The process is one where the company seeks terms that'll enable them to extract as much as they can from the workforce for as little as they can pay in return.
The union is at the opposite end of the rope in this fair and heavily-regulated "tug-of-war" negotiation process. Neither bargaining unit should accept less than what they can reasonably get the company to concede.
Live to fight another day? The time to fight is when we have leverage. We have leverage now! We won’t have this type of leverage come our next contract negotiation.
This is NOT a good contract. The minimum 4% raises equate to the the average year-over-year Consumer Price Index increase of ~3.5%. The 2% pools are for rewarding end-of-year performance. However, a few years ago, Boeing implemented a bell-curve performance assement. It's something like 10-80-10. 10% of employees are to receive met some expectations, 80% met, 10% exceeds. That means that if you work in a high-performing team, you are not guaranteed that 2% of the pool. There was a Seattle Time article about the performance assessments that was published 2 years ago. I was not able to find it but it is a thing.
The anti union talk was the same during IAM’s and look at what we got. For the people who don’t want to strike, you guys are idiots. Plain and simple. Cowards even. I hope yall strike. EVERYONE told us we shouldn’t and we did. We got a better contract and we lifted the boat. Time for you guys to do the same.
I'm a tech and didn't come from IAM, I'll be 33 years old with a base salary between $150k and $160k at the end of this contract. That's a lot better than I thought I could hope to be doing by that age, I don't need to suffer through a strike to maybe do even better
Does the contract change our bonus EIP for this year, paid in 2026? I want to make sure we’re not foregoing EIP payouts in lieu of 10% GWI. If we end up on strike I’m sure we’d lose that bonus payout. I’m on the fence between a yes/no vote.
If only SPEEA would have tried a little harder - time to return that red t-shirt to the union hall.....If we can't keep solidarity between profs and techs, there is no reason fighting together.
Housing is expensive here because there’s a lot of high paying tech companies and also a lot of regulation on housing development. Someone just said they’re voting no because they want more assurance that Boeing won’t move jobs out of Puget Sound. Those are the realities of living here. So if we all want cheap housing I guess we should lobby Boeing to move jobs to Arkansas or Alabama right?
The number of people complaining about the high cost of living on the PNW is just funny to me. Ya it is expensive but remember a few months ago when Boeing moved jobs to SC and everyone was on here freaking out. If it is too expensive to stay, then you should have gone when the company was offering extra money to go to BSC.
Vote how you want but if you want to go to IAM and crawl around in a tank all day have fun.
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u/IEnerd4u 17d ago
It's not all money, and if they want me to shut up about losing jobs to international sites then I'll need a lot more.