Catherwood LibraryILR School

Just two weeks into negotiations that both sides characterized as friendly from the outset (see WIT for Nov. 5, 2002), the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace reached a tentative contract agreement with the Boeing Corporation that it is hoped will prevent a repeat of the bitter strike that in the last round of negotiations. Under the terms of the agreement, a little over half of the approximately 19,300 SPEERA members employed at Boeing will receive raises of two percent per year, with the remainder receiving 1.5 percent per year, for the life of the contract. Although negotiators for both sides agreed to a twenty percent increase in pension benefits in exchange for increased worker co-payments and premiums for health coverage, the contentious issue of job security---which nearly resulted in an IAM strike at Boeing two months ago (see WIT for Sep. 17, 2002)---was only addressed vaguely in a side agreement to the contract proposal.