The union representing some 1,600 Wichita aerospace professionals has ratified a 4.8-year contract with Boeing.
The contract was approved by a 671 to 111 vote of dues-paying members of SPEEA’s Wichita Technical & Professional Unit, or WTPU. Voting was conducted online and in-person over the past week. Ballots were counted Friday, Jan. 30.
The ratified contract will bring the biggest increases in salary pools that the WTPU has ever seen, said James Hatfield, who was the chair of the WTPU negotiation team.
“The average WTPU-represented worker will be making more than $117,000 a year when this contract is done in 2030,” he said. “In addition, we’ll see significant improvements to our health care benefits with lower premiums, we’ll have more days off from work and we’ll have a higher incentive pay target.”
The negotiation team had unanimously endorsed the Boeing offer.
The WTPU bargaining unit includes a mix of white-collar professionals working in non-engineering roles at Boeing-Wichita. This is the first contract the union has negotiated with Boeing since it reacquired Spirit AeroSystems in December.
Under the contract, the workers will receive:
- A $6,000 ratification bonus, paid in February; workers have the option to take it as cash or defer part or all of it into their 401(k)-retirement savings.
- 20% increases to wage pools over 58 months (4.8 years), with the first two increases coming within 13 months. Individuals’ pay increases would vary based on the scores they get in annual performance reviews but for the first time, everyone is guaranteed an annual raise of at least 2%. The wage pools will increase aggregate wages by 5% on July 10 of this year; 3.5% in March 2027; 4% in March 2028; 3.5% in March 2029; and 4% in March 2030.
- An increase in annual performance bonus payouts starting in 2027 (for the 2026 plan year), with the target going to 7% from the current 6%, and the maximum going to 14% from the current 12%.
- A switch to a Boeing suite of medical insurance plans in 2027, which will save the average WTPU-represented employee $3,100 -- with some saving more than $7,000 a year -- depending on their current medical plan.
- Starting in 2027, a 100% 401(k) match for workers putting up to 10% of their own money into their 401(k) savings plans.
- An average of six more days of time off per year – depending on years of service – plus improved parental, adoption and military service leave.
Talks for Northwest bargaining units are next
SPEEA – the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace – also represents nearly 16,000 engineers and technical workers at Boeing Co. facilities in Washington, Oregon, California and Utah. These two groups – SPEEA’s Technical unit and Engineering unit – will conduct simultaneous negotiations with Boeing later this year. Both contracts with Boeing expire on Oct. 6.
SPEEA President John Dimas, who was an observer for the WTPU talks in December and January, said that he had “witnessed a member-driven WTPU negotiation team that understood and communicated the needs of WTPU members, and also a Boeing management team that listened to those needs.”
He added that he is “hopeful the management team in the Northwest does the same for our Technical and Engineering units.”
About SPEEA
In total, SPEEA represents nearly 19,000 engineers, scientists, technical workers and pilots working for Boeing in five states. In Kansas, along with the WTPU, SPEEA represents the engineers of the Wichita Engineering Unit, who ratified their own contract in 2024.
SPEEA is affiliated with the International Federation of Professional & Technical Engineers as IFPTE Local 2001.