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SPEEA today lacks a reasonable means to grow beyond The Boeing Company and Spirit AeroSystems. In the past decade, SPEEA has lost more than 9,000 members due to moving work and outsourcing. Without the ability to grow beyond our current employers, SPEEA continues to shrink, hurting our ability to be a strong voice for professional aerospace employees.
Voting “ACCEPT” means that authorization for organizing a group of employees outside Boeing or Spirit can be done by a vote of the SPEEA Council. Nothing else changes. Votes on contracts and all other union elections stay exactly as they are today.
A larger union overall increases SPEEAs bargaining power to secure the best wages, benefits and working conditions for existing members while at the same time raising standards for all aerospace professionals across the industry. Bringing our union to more workplaces reduces incentives for Boeing and Spirit to move jobs and provides employees with more options for representation at various aerospace employers, creates a faster path to unionization and provides more security in our contracts and for our profession.
Language in the current SPEEA Constitution restricts growth to employees working at The Boeing Company, Boeing wholly owned subsidiaries, Boeing joint venture or Boeing successor employees. To expand beyond these bounds requires a costly vote and 60% approval from the entire SPEEA membership – before organizing can start.
With employers focused on diminishing our numbers and our voice within the aerospace industry, it is vital SPEEA grows to maintain resources and reduce the incentive for employers to outsource or move work to new locations. Helping workers at other companies gain union representation expands existing members’ career opportunities to more companies with union benefits and protections. Extending SPEEA’s reach and numbers also increases every members’ voice within the aerospace industry, allowing our union to have a stronger impact on wages, benefits, working conditions and aerospace standards throughout the industry.
No, traditionally SPEEA was open to employees at companies outside of Boeing without the current restrictions. These limits were placed into the Constitution in 1999 when aerospace industry growth was primarily within Boeing and our existing bargaining units.
The limiting language was added to the Constitution in 1999. With the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger still raw for many, there was concern about SPEEA’s ability to remain autonomous when an all-member vote led to affiliation with IFPTE in 1999. SPEEA has always maintained its independence. SPEEA also continues to benefit from the support of the larger labor movement.
Members can change the constitution by approving new language in a referendum via an all-member vote. The referendum requires approval by 60% of the voting members.
All SPEEA, regular, dues-paying members in good standing are eligible to vote on the referendum to change the Constitution.
Ballots will go in the mail Oct. 5 to the homes of all SPEEA, regular dues-paying members in good standing. Ballots must arrive at SPEEA no later than noon, Wednesday, Oct. 26. Ballots delivered after the deadline will not be counted, regardless of postmark.
The cost to hold a Constitutional Referendum vote is similar to other SPEEA all-member votes. With SPEEA membership presently at about 17,000, the cost for paper, printing and postage is in the neighborhood of $20,000. While this is substantial, changing the Constitution makes this a one-time cost and eliminates the need to hold all-member votes every time employees from outside Boeing want to join SPEEA.
Yes. In 2009, changing this language was part of a larger ballot to elect IFPTE delegates. A majority of voting members supported the change at that time. However, approval did not reach the 60% required to change the Constitution.
Monthly union dues are set by the SPEEA Constitution at .85% of the average hourly wage of all SPEEA members. Thanks to SPEEA contracts, current members are some of the highest paid aerospace employees in the country. Bringing in new members from other companies is more likely to lessen dues than increase dues for existing members. The impact of adding new members from outside current employers to our current membership will have minimal impact on the annual dues’ adjustment.
Yes! The Wichita Engineering (WEU), Wichita Technical and Professionals (WTPU), Triumph and SPEEA Pilots (SPIU) units were all added to SPEEA as new bargaining units.
Absolutely! By representing employees at other companies, Boeing and Spirit will have less incentive to move and outsource work. The expansion of union representation also helps raise the standards for all employees. By bringing union representation to employees at other companies, current SPEEA members have more options to change jobs while keeping the security of union representation. Just as SPEEA benefits today from the ideas of members at different companies and locations, the union and members will benefit from increased employer diversity in the future.
When workers at Boeing and Spirit express interest in joining SPEEA we work to help them gain union representation. SPEEA is currently helping non-union workers at Boeing Seal Beach join our union. Workers at other companies also express interest in joining SPEEA. However, when we explain the obstacles in our Constitution and weigh the cost of the all-member vote, starting an organizing campaign becomes unrealistic to them and SPEEA to pursue.
Instead of an all-member vote to approve an organizing drive for employees
outside of Boeing or Spirit, the SPEEA Council will vote to approve.
Removes a costly ($20,000+) and
time-consuming all-member vote.
Expanding to other companies reduces
the incentive for current employers to
outsource our work to avoid unions.
Extending SPEEA’s reach in aerospace helps
protect the benefits in our current SPEEA
contracts while raising standards for all
aerospace professionals.
SPEEA members help other professionals
gain the benefits of union representation. |
The only change is moving approval
from an all-member vote to a vote of the SPEEA Council. All other aspects of organizing and adding bargaining units remain the same.
The SPEEA Council will still learn about and debate the benefits and issues of
each organizing campaign before
voting to approve the effort.
The new language provides professionals needing a union an easier and
quicker path to join SPEEA. |
The addition of new Bargaining Unit(s) to SPEEA requires approval by the
SPEEA Council.
The addition of any Bargaining Unit(s) employed in the Engineering, Technical & Scientific Community which does not contain either Boeing, Boeing wholly owned subsidiary, Boeing joint venture or Successor employees shall require ratification by a vote of the Regular Membership of SPEEA by referendum. |
For questions about the Constitutional Referendum, email referendum@speea.org.
Updated 10-4-2022
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