A Boeing engineers strike is off the table. About 17,000 engineers and technical workers voted on October 1 to approve new four-year contracts, just days before their old ones were set to expire on October 6.
Their union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, is known as SPEEA. Engineers approved the deal with 67.6% of the vote, while technical workers backed it more narrowly at 53.5%. Both groups got a 10% raise that took effect on October 2.
Boeing Contract Vote
How Boeing's Engineers Voted
Engineers (Professional unit)
Technical workers (Technical unit)
The new four-year contracts include a 10% raise that took effect on October 2.
Contrail
The Vote
It took two tries to get here. In August, members rejected Boeing's first offer by wide margins and authorized a strike, with 64% of engineers and about 72% of technical workers voting no. Boeing responded by activating its strike contingency plan, then came back with an improved offer.
Under the new deal, SPEEA expects average engineer pay to rise from $152,000 to $208,000 over the life of the contract.
The Impact on Travelers
These aren't the workers who build planes on the factory floor. SPEEA's members include engineers and specialists who handle work such as certification, the process of proving to regulators that a new plane is safe to fly.
Without a deal, work on two planes airlines badly want could have slowed. The Boeing 777X is a new version of Boeing's big long-haul jet, and the 737 MAX 10 is the largest model in its most popular family of single-aisle planes. Both have already faced long delays, and Boeing has more than 620 orders for the 777X family.
Avoiding a walkout keeps that work moving, which matters to airlines like Emirates and Lufthansa that are counting on the 777X to replace older jets.
The Road Ahead
A labor deal doesn't guarantee the new planes arrive on time, since certification depends on regulators too. It does remove one major risk, which is welcome news for travelers hoping to fly on newer and quieter jets.
