Boeing Engineers, Technical Workers Reject Four-Year Contract Offer

By Kelly Cloonan

Boeing engineers and technical workers rejected the jetmaker's proposal for four-year collective bargaining agreements.

The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace said Friday its members also voted to allow the union's negotiation team to authorize a strike until its concerns are addressed.

The organization is Boeing's biggest white-collar union, representing about 17,000 aerospace professionals across a professional unit made up of engineers and scientists, as well as a technical unit with technicians, analysts and planners.

About 64% of the engineering unit and 72% of the technical unit voted to reject the contract offer.

The union's negotiating team had endorsed the offer, which provides for wage increases it said could compound to about 32% over the length of the contract. The negotiation team said it would work toward a new offer that meets the collective expectations of SPEEA members.

Boeing stood by its contract offer following the vote, and said it is now implementing its strike contingency plan, diverting money it had wanted to invest in its SPEEA-represented team to prepare for a potential strike.

"We have no choice but to implement our contingency plan. We have a responsibility to the rest of our workforce and our customers to build on our progress over the last two years and maintain our momentum," said Ben Nimmergut, Boeing vice president and functional chief engineer for production engineering.

Boeing said it hasn't scheduled further talks with SPEEA, and the earliest a strike could occur is Oct. 7.

Write to Kelly Cloonan at kelly.cloonan@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 21, 2026 19:20 ET (23:20 GMT)