Negotiations between Boeing Wichita and its engineering union broke down today after Boeing refused to move on key issues, a union leader said.
A strike by the engineers is a “high possibility at this point in time,” said Bob Brewer, Midwest director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.
Members of SPEEA’s engineering union will revote on Boeing’s last offer next week. It is the same offer members rejected by 88 percent earlier this month. This time, however, members will vote on whether to authorize the union’s negotiating team to call a strike.
If they do, the team will decide whether to call a work stoppage, Brewer said. A date for the vote has not been set, Brewer said.
“I think there’s a lot of energy behind that,” he said. “I think the employees are tired of seeing the less-than-standard or deficient offer that they’ve been seeing.”
A federal mediator was called in to help with the talks, which resumed Monday after the contract’s rejection.
Boeing spokesman Jarrod Bartlett said the contract is one that rewards employees yet keeps the Wichita site competitive.
“We hope that employees will study and understand the provision of the best and final offer and vote to ratify,” Bartlett said. The company is prepared for a strike but is “focused on reaching an agreement.”
Boeing “communicated to SPEEA that our best and final offer was on the table, and that is our best and final offer,” Bartlett said.
SPEEA represents about 700 engineers in Wichita. Talks began in November, making them the longest negotiations in SPEEA history, the union said.
A strike would be a first in SPEEA’s history in Wichita. Boeing engineers and technical workers struck the company for the first time in the Seattle almost nine years ago.
