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‘Dolores’
New date for SPEEA Puget Sound movie night/panel discussion

The SPEEA Diversity Committee is showing 'Dolores,' Thursday, March 7, at 5 p.m. at the SPEEA Tukwila and Everett halls.

The movie is a documentary on Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers union.

Panel discussion

After the movie, organizers from Community to Community (C2C) will talk about how Huerta’s work relates to what they’re doing in the farm worker/immigrant communities with C2C, a women-led organization. 

Interested in attending? Email speea@speea.org and indicate the SPEEA hall where you plan to attend.

The Diversity Committee canceled the Puget Sound movie night Feb. 13 due to the weather. 
Proposed change to Midwest by-laws

Midwest Council unanimously approved publishing a proposed revision to the SPEEA Midwest by-laws regarding Council Rep petition deadlines.

 The SPEEA Midwest Governing Documents Committee drafted and approved the proposed change to By-Laws Section 5.3.2, which addresses the timing for filing a petition for a Council Representative position every odd-numbered year.

 This amendment needs to be published, for comment, before being accepted or rejected, according to the SPEEA Constitution - Article 15.2.2 – 2 and 15.2.2 – 3.

 The intention of the proposed change is to ease the application process, to make advertising the deadline easier and to give staff adequate time to process and prepare the election ballots.

 The Midwest Council will vote on the changes Feb. 21.

 The proposed changes are shown here. Deleted text has a line through it and new text is underlined.

 5.3.2 Nomination

Any regular member of the Midwest Region, with continuous membership during the 12 months prior, may file a petition for a Council Representative position with the Midwest Regional Tellers Committee on or before the first last Wednesday in April March of odd-numbered years. The petition shall include the endorsements of a minimum of fifteen regular members in the council district and be signed by the candidate. The Midwest Regional Tellers shall validate the petition signatures for membership and district location. The Midwest Regional Tellers may determine the number of endorsements of regular members in small membership districts. 
SPEEA Executive Board
Nine run for regional vice president

With nine candidates for three regional vice president seats, SPEEA will conduct an election in the Northwest.

Northwest candidates - three positions
(Names appear in ballot order)

  • John Dimas
  • Dan Nowlin
  • Douglas Brazeal
  • Ugur Koksu
  • Shaunna Winton
  • Mike Shea
  • Daniel Peters
  • Noel Cabanday
  • Mohammed Riaz Khan
Keith Covert
The Midwest regional vice president, Keith Covert, begins new two-year term March 27.

Members of the SPEEA regional Tellers Committees confirmed the petitions were signed by members to ensure the candidates followed the election process. They also determined the ballot order by random drawing.

The candidates had until Monday, Jan. 28, to submit qualifications, statements and answers to regional Council-approved questions.

SPEEA will mail a ballot packet, including candidate information, by Feb. 27. Ballots are counted March 13.

Reminder about campaigning
Federal law prohibits candidates and their supporters from using company/union resources such as work email or bulletin boards.
Candidates can, at their expense, mail campaign literature to members’ homes. They work with a bonded mailing house. Addresses are never provided directly to a candidate.

 

Seeking Midwest candidates for IFPTE VP vacancy

SPEEA, IFPTE Local 2001, has an interim SPEEA Area vice president vacancy on the IFPTE Executive Council due to the retirement of Donna Lehane.

  • Eligibility – must be a Midwest member in good standing for the preceding 24 months.
  • Petition and timeline, requirements and information – The petition requires signatures of 20 SPEEA members, along with a 25-word (max) qualification statement and 250-word (max) position statement in case of an election.

Petitions/statements are due by 5 p.m., Monday, April 1.

Vice presidents serve on the IFPTE Executive Council, which is responsible for governing IFPTE between triennial conventions.

The interim term continues until the next IFPTE convention in 2021.
SPEEA and IFPTE support federal workers affected by shutdown

SPEEA members and staff joined federal workers, state labor leaders and union members at SeaTac airport (shown left) Jan. 10 to push for an end to the federal shutdown. More than 800,000 federal workers are without a paycheck. More than 10,000 members of SPEEA sister locals in the IFPTE are federal workers and either off the job or working without pay.

As hundreds of thousands of workers, including over 10,000 IFPTE members, are affected by the government shutdown, many in the IFPTE family stepped up in solidarity.

SPEEA, Local 2001 provided grocery store gift cards to members of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), including 40 gift cards delivered to the Wichita-area NATCA members.

“We are looking to places where we can support our neighbors and fellow union members, and intend to also look for ways to support IFPTE-furloughed members as well,” said SPEEA Treasurer Jimmie Mathis.

The IFPTE website provides tools for federal workers who are not receiving pay to get help with unemployment insurance and other financial assistance. See www.ifpte.org for more details.

In addition, IFPTE officers and staff continue to demand an end to the shutdown through outreach to members of Congress. They’ve also attended and marched at numerous rallies.

SPEEA members and staff also joined federal workers, state labor leaders and union members at SeaTac airport and nearby Angle Lake Park to push for an end to the federal shutdown. The rallies were in direct support of airport workers, such as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers, and federal prison workers.
SPEEA/Boeing joint statement
Salary Adjustment Funds for 2019 announced

Boeing and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), IFPTE Local 2001, announced the 2019 Salary Adjustment Funds for employees in the union’s Professional and Technical bargaining units. Read more
Veterans help Guide Dog Training Center

Mark Beasley, a Boeing engineer in Huntsville, Ala., is a U.S. Air Force veteran and amputee. He met and received his service dog, Cruiser, at Southeastern Guide Dogs in Florida. Realizing the center lacked an airplane mockup to help dogs learn about boarding airplanes, Beasley solicited surplus seats from Boeing. The SPEEA Executive Board recently paid to transport two rows of seats to the training center. Now, to build an airplane set and provide other help for the center, the SPEEA Veterans Committee started a “GoFundMe” page.

Read more about Mark and the airplane seat effort in the January edition of SPEEA Spotlite.

Visit the GoFundMe page: Veterans Service Dog Training Support
Workforce issues in governor's budget

OLYMPIA – Investments in education and workforce training programs suggested by Choose Washington, NMA are included in the state budget proposed by Gov. Jay Inslee.
The proposals, announced in mid-December, includes:

  • $22 million to increase enrollment in K-12 and Community and Technical College programs.
  • $18 million for facility and equipment upgrades.
  • $16 million for incumbent worker training including the Washington Aerospace Training & Research (WATR) Center.
  • $7 million for system implementation to help ensure higher education credits transfer across institutions, as well as expanding aerospace programs.

“We have the best trained aerospace workforce in the country, and to maintain that, we must have strong programs for both youth and adults,” said NMA Council Co-chair Rick Bender. “This budget opens the door to high-skilled jobs and keeps our aerospace sector strong.”

SPEEA advocates that placing design and engineering with our members – wherever they are located – offers the best chance for a successful launch of the NMA. During a recent meeting with Spirit President and CEO Tom Gentile in Wichita, members inquired about Spirit’s efforts to secure some of the work and were assured the company will work to win and secure work going to suppliers.
The Choose Washington Workforce Development Strategy is the most comprehensive assessment of current investments in the state’s aerospace workforce. It includes strategies for ensuring Washington’s education and workforce training is scaled to meet the need, and is coordinated, integrated and accountable.

Work continues with the Council in multiple areas with SPEEA staff members Stan Sorscher on the Executive Council and Bill Dugovich on the communications work group. Dugovich recently was part of a Choose Washington panel that appeared on KBTC public television’s Northwest Now.

Subscribe to email news and updates from the governor’s Choose Washington NMA Council.

Visit the Choose Washington, NMA website.
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