By Scott Hamilton
Aug. 12, 2026, © Leeham News: Lingering resentment over past contracts, comparisons with the 2024 IAM 751 contract, and poor communications appear to contribute to reasons the Bargaining Unit Councils (BUCs) of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) voted against the tentative agreement (TA) between the union and Boeing.
SPEEA has two BUCs: one for the professional engineers and one for technicians whom SPEEA represents with Boeing. Last month the union and the company agreed to a new contract. The present one expires on October 6.
SPEEA’s Bargaining Unit Councils debate the Boeing contact offer. The BUC for the technicians recommended rejection of the contract. The engineers’ BUC didn’t meet the 60% super-majority threshold to make a recommendation–but 58% of the vote was for rejection. Both BUCs approved inclusion of a strike authorization vote. Credit: SPEEA.
Under SPEEA’s bylaws, the BUCs must review proposed contracts. Each BUC decides whether to recommend approval or rejection of the TAs to the rank-and-file members. A 60% vote is required before a recommendation can be made. The technicians’ BUC obtained this supermajority and recommended against approval. The professionals’ BUC fell a few votes short of the supermajority and made no recommendation. However, LNA learned that 58% of the vote was against approval. Both BUCs voted to authorize a strike vote.
On-line voting begins August 13 and must be completed by noon on August 21. Based on interviews and social media comments, it appears the TAs will be rejected, and a strike will be authorized if no contract is approved by October. 6.
The last time SPEEA struck was in 2000. Members walked the picket lines for 40 days.
Lingering anger
The current TA is the first full contract negotiation in years. The last two agreements were contract extensions.
In the intervening years, union members writing on Facebook and Reddit accounts say wages have fallen behind inflation, other economic indicators have also trailed, and jobs have been moved out of the Seattle area to other states or overseas. A variety of other issues remain the subject of online complaints.
Negotiators for SPEEA and Boeing each called the contract the most generous one offered to members. Some social media posts dispute this, claiming the negotiators are misleading members.
Others simply think a better deal will be forthcoming if this contract is rejected. Boeing and SPEEA called the contract the Best and Final Offer (BAFO). The 2024 contract with Boeing’s touch-labor union, the IAM 751, went through four contract offers, including one that had been labeled a BAFO by the company, before approving the fourth version.
One comment by a Reddit user with the screen name longjumpingmangoes is representative.
“The bigger issue is leverage. IAM’s 2024 strike worked because it cost Boeing something like a billion dollars a month in lost production. SPEEA hasn’t put that kind of pressure on the table since 2000. Every contract since has basically depended on Boeing choosing to be generous, not SPEEA’s ability to make saying no expensive for them.”
Comparison with IAM contract
When the IAM union members finally approved the fourth version of the contract in 2024 after a 53-day strike, most of what members wanted was achieved. Included was an aggregate 43% increase in wages over the life of the contract, improvements in the 401(k) retirement plan, and a host of other “wants.”
Comparison of the SPEEA contract with the IAM contract was inevitable. Boeing’s wage proposal for SPEEA didn’t come close to that granted the IAM. Boeing and SPEEA leadership say the IAM hadn’t had a new contract since 2008, and wages had stagnated under two contract amendments in the intervening years. SPEEA members, on the other hand, received wage increases and are generally paid more anyway.
These arguments went nowhere in the social media postings. Posters complained about wage increases that didn’t keep up with inflation, which was especially rampant during the Biden Administration.
Poor communication
In the run-up to the negotiations, SPEEA leadership surveyed its members about issues and goals for the talks. However, there was some complaining that not enough members were surveyed. Without evidence, one complaint claimed only 50% of the members were surveyed; the number should have been closer to 80%, the member claimed.
Leading up to the IAM talks, the union held a rally at the Seattle Mariners baseball stadium and did a straw poll. Thousands of the 33,000 union members appeared at the rally. More than 90% favored a strike. Their sentiment was clear, yet Boeing and IAM 751 leaders badly misread the membership’s mood when the first TA was reached and billed by both sides as the best ever offered to the union.
Members rejected the contract by 85% and agreed to strike by 86%.
Sentiment on social media is almost unanimous to reject the contract, and there is vocal support for a strike. The collection of comments isn’t scientific, but it follows the pattern of the commentary after the IAM 751 TA was reached.
Can Boeing withstand a strike?
When the IAM 751 struck, Boeing had $12 billion in cash and an unused $10 billion line of credit. On June 30, the end of the second quarter, Boeing had $20 billion in cash plus the line of credit.
Boeing burned through the $12 billion in cash during the IAM strike and was in danger of facing bankruptcy. A $24 billion capital raise during the strike saved the company.
The better financial condition today doesn’t mean Boeing can truly afford a strike. If SPEEA’s engineers and technicians walk out, Boeing Commercial Airplanes is effectively shut down.
Boeing has a contingency plan whose details it hasn’t disclosed. But it includes trying to hire contractors.
SPEEA represents 17,000 engineers and upward of 24,000 employees in total. Boeing is hard-pressed to find engineers for full-time work today. Any contingency plan would likely be woefully inadequate.
Boeing could easily withstand a short strike of a day (the duration of one SPEEA strike) or perhaps up to a week. But an extended strike, like the 40-day walkout in 2000, would put a dent in Boeing’s recovery. Whether the supply chain would be significantly disrupted is also a consideration.
Boeing’s hand in 2024 was very weak. It’s stronger today, but recovery is still underway, and Boeing Commercial Airplanes is still losing money at its reduced production rates.
Militant SPEEA members believe this gives them a stronger hand in this year’s contract negotiations.
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