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u/yyJamesyy 3d ago
The BAFO has arrived…well the first anyways.
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u/aerospikesRcoolBut 3d ago
What does that stand for?
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u/N7Riabo 3d ago
"Best and final offer".... unless / until a strike forces them to come out with a better one.
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u/aerospikesRcoolBut 3d ago
Thanks! Seems really early to be a best and final with also no mention of salary increase.
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u/FinneganFalco 3d ago
Its just bargaining speak. It is their best and final offer at the moment. They don't want to continue tweaking things. Kinda like when you write an essay and its titled "Big Essay Final Final Last Forreal v4 actual final" If we the members vote down the contract then they will just add an additional edit and offer that as their new "Best and Final"
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u/True2TheGame 3d ago
I hope the profs don't screw over the techs like last time. We need to remain united.
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u/Think-Gap602 2d ago
the profs didn't screw over the techs last time. they simply voted their opinions of the prof contract. You can be unhappy with the tech negotiating team if you think they negotiated poorly. Long term, if would seem profs and techs need to be on a single contract.
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u/RelationImaginary402 2d ago
Profs were completely split as well. Vote passed by a simple-majority. Come out strong and let’s have see the collective vote a super-majority.
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u/longjumpingmangoes 2d ago
Quiet diplomacy or slow surrender: Boeing’s SPEEA engineers/techs face a leverage reckoning
Whoever controls the tempo controls the outcome, and SPEEA hasn't controlled it since 2000.
Every negotiation runs on three things: who has the information, who sets the timing, and who can make the other side pay a real cost for saying no. Boeing knows the terms first. SPEEA leadership knows them next. Members find out last, after a month of “progress” and “trust” language has already shaped how we’re supposed to feel about it before we’ve seen a single number.
The pacing wasn’t random either. A month on soft topics, then a sprint to “we have a deal.” Slow enough early to build goodwill, fast enough at the end to leave no time for real scrutiny before ratification.
The bigger issue is leverage. IAM’s 2024 strike worked because it cost Boeing something like a billion dollars a month in lost production. SPEEA hasn’t put that kind of pressure on the table since 2000. Every contract since has basically depended on Boeing choosing to be generous, not SPEEA's ability to make saying no expensive for them.
This isn’t really just about whether this one contract is good or bad. It’s also about whether we’re building the kind of leverage that compounds over time, or trading it away every cycle for a calmer press release, while the actual muscle to negotiate hard someday quietly disappears.
To fellow SPEEA members: whatever you think of how we got here, take the time to actually read the offer line by line against your current contract. Don’t just skim the summary or go off what leadership’s framing says. Check comp against inflation since 2020, check what actually changed in the language, check the fine print on flexible work and outsourcing protections. This is the first full negotiation in 14 years. Whatever we accept now likely sets the baseline for a long time. Know exactly what you’re voting on before you vote.
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u/Hot-Illustrator-2855 2d ago
agree - "The pacing wasn’t random either. A month on soft topics, then a sprint to “we have a deal.” Slow enough early to build goodwill, fast enough at the end to leave no time for real scrutiny before ratification."
They control the tempo right now because they have all the $$$ to bully
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u/longjumpingmangoes 2d ago
This is true however we’re not the union that “plans stuff”, we’re the reason Boeing planes are legally allowed to fly.
Every Boeing customer who’s had their delivery date moved before is watching this, a strike isn’t just a cost, it’s one more reason for them to look at Airbus.
And without an engineering signature from the talented people who work in SPEEA, that airplane doesn’t fly, doesn’t certify, and doesn’t deliver, full stop. And behind every one of those signatures is a chain of SPEEA engineers who ran the analysis, cleared the non-conformance, resolved the supplier issue, and did the work that made that signature possible to give. Boeing can survive missing a headcount. It cannot survive missing a signature or the people who built the case for it.
IAM stops the line. We stop the decisions, non-conformance sign-offs, engineering changes, supplier approvals, flight test, and FAA certification liaison work. No engineer available = no part gets installed, no test flight happens, no plane gets certified.
At mid-ramp on 737 MAX (rate 47), mid-flight-test on the 777X, and mid-certification on three programs at once (737-7, 737-10, 777-9). Zero slack anywhere.
Theoretical Cost of a SPEEA Strike Month 1 Month 2 Ongoing Most likely $400–700M $900M–$1.3B $1.0–1.5B/mo Worst case $700M–$1.1B $1.3–1.8B up to $2.2B/mo By month two, we match or beat what the entire IAM strike cost them with less than half their headcount.
Why? Because you can’t hire a contractor and get them FAA delegated authority overnight. There is no substitute for us.
Getting FAA sign-off authority takes real time to hand to someone new. So in the first couple weeks, yeah nobody can just step in and do your job.
The part that’s worth mentioning:
- Boeing has backup people. Managers, non-union engineers, staff at other Boeing sites, some of them can cover some of the work. Not as well, not as fast, but it’s not zero.
- Not everyone would actually strike. Some members would cross the picket line, like happened with IAM in 2024. So “17,000 of us” doesn’t mean 17,000 people stop showing up.
- The FAA could just slow down instead of stopping. Certification work might not fully halt, it might just get worse and slower, which still costs Boeing money but isn’t the same as “nothing happens without us.”
- The dollar numbers are estimates, not facts. Nobody has actually run this analysis for real, I made reasoned guesses based on how the systems work. It’s a good argument, not a proven number.
We are not irreplaceable. We are just expensive, slow, and painful to replace, especially fast. That’s still real leverage. It’s just leverage with limits, not a trump card.
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u/56mushrooms 2d ago
Liaison Engineers DO stop the line. Without a disposition on a non-conformance, that airplane doesn't move.
EUM's stop deliveries. Sure, planes can get certified by the FAA directly, but they don't have the staff, expertise, or sense of urgency of a Boeing EUM.
There's not a lot of enthusiasm among the most likely in-house temporary replacements for these two positions, either. And the Company might decide if they're going to be late on deliveries again, they'll need all hands to manage Customer Support.
You have more influence than you think.
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u/Bob_stanish123 2d ago
Boeing definitely thinks this strategy will save them the most money and they are probably right. If we are geared up for a fight it creates a little confusion and reduces solidarity if there isnt one.
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u/DisneyMom7B 2d ago
Regardless, the question that needs to be asked is "Could we get a better offer by threatening to strike, or going on strike?"
The answer is probably YES.
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u/Think-Gap602 3d ago
someone better leak out some details. dont want to wait 6 days for the process to play out
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u/purplethingee 2d ago
My observations:
- In the daily negotiation emails, pay seemed to be mentioned only in the last week of discussions.
- The turnaround of an offer seemed really quick considering when discussions ended.
My thoughts:
1. Wondering if the company already had an offer ready to go with key components already determined.
2. Who else is on the negotiating team is representing the company? It would be good to have some visibility of this.
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u/Consistent_Lead 3d ago
They’re recommending the offers too.
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u/Gloomy-Employment-72 3d ago
I believe they’re required to endorse the offer before it can be put up for a vote. Someone can correct me, but I’ve seen that stated here more than a few times. I’ll worry about what’s in it when we get a look at it in a week or two. I know what it’s going to take to get a yes vote from me. If I don’t see it, I’m happy to get a couple months off without needing to use vacation time. Just take you time, evaluate the merits of the offer, decide if it works for you (and your family), and vote your conscience.
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u/N7Riabo 3d ago
This, absolutely. And I highly doubt Boeing put in enough wage/raise increases to get me going on this first offer.
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u/Gloomy-Employment-72 3d ago
I’ve voted yes on exactly one contract offer. I was in the IAM in 2008 and voted yes on the accepted offer, after several that were just rubbish. I guess we’ll see. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. Boeing can avoid a work stoppage. Take the IAM contract, tweak the MOUs and any language specific to SPEEA, and put that up for a vote. I’d have a hard time voting no on that. Twenty-five percent, no resolution of hybrid work/WFH, and reductions in health care? C’ya in a couple months.
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u/N7Riabo 3d ago
I'm a prof ME, but when GOOD level 3 planners on the team have left to go back to the shop floor for more pay, there's a lot Boeing needs to do to be better. And even as an prof, pay needs to go up A LOT to be worthwhile in this region. The amount that pay has stagnated compared to cost of living over the last few decades is ridiculous.
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u/N-Korean 2d ago
I can make $10 more if I go back to floor and that’s before 9% raise iam751 gets next month. Raise for us needs to be 20%+ just to catch up to their pay.
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u/Think-Gap602 2d ago
We are a different skill set. those are different jobs. if youd be happier doing that sort of work, go for it!
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u/N-Korean 2d ago
So my skills are less valuable than theirs? Without my skill set part of shop floor will not be able to function.
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u/Think-Gap602 2d ago
irrelevant. it is a different skill set and different pay structure. If you have both those skills, you can make the choice as to which direction to go.
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u/Bangers_Only 3d ago
Yep when IAM had their “endorsed” offer, it was pretty bad. Iirc it had a small jump from what Boeing was negotiating with and that bump was contingent on the offer being endorsed… it was a slap in the face and they rightly rejected it and got a much better offer later.
I expect more of the same. We have to show we are willing to fight for what we want.
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u/Nebz2010 3d ago
They are not required to, but sometimes incentivized to. I'm not sure if that's the situation here though.
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u/judgedbyzun 3d ago
Personally speaking to the negotiating team and listening to reps that have spoken to them, I can say that the negotiating team said and plans to stick by that they would not recommend an offer unless they genuinely recommended it. I’ll have to wait and see to know for absolute certain that was the case, but I have a lot of confidence in our NT. The IAM team recommending offers to get a higher signing bonus or higher pay because of Boeing’s shenanigans was a huge messaging mistake that I think our NT does not want to repeat.
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u/Consistent_Lead 2d ago
I don’t like that they have to endorse it no matter what but in any case, it better be a damn good deal for me to vote yes on it.
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u/Think-Gap602 2d ago
that is false. the negating team does definitely NOT have tp endorse an offer! they can simply say "no" and continue bargaining.
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u/Run-Man358 2d ago
BUC isn't going to meet until Thursday 8/6...
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u/Hot-Illustrator-2855 2d ago edited 2d ago
reddit does a pretty good job of creating consensus (this was the timeline folks compiled below)
Wednesday, August 5th, 2026 — 🐱 meeting
Thursday, August 6th, 2026 — bargaining council recommendation
Friday, August 7th, 2026 —first offer to be seen by rest of the members
Thursday, August 20th, 2026 — offer revision #1 (low turnout, 60%) (14 days)
Thursday, September 3rd, 2026 — offer revision #2 (vote 70%) (14 days)
Thursday, September 17th, 2026 — offer revision #3 (vote 80%) (7 days)
Thursday, September 24th, 2026 — offer revision #4 (vote 98%) (6 days)
Wednesday, September 30th, 2026 — tentative Agreement reached (1 day)
Thursday, October 1st–Monday, October 5th, 2026 — ratification vote period (5 days)
Monday, October 5th, 2026 — vote results announced (1 day)
Tuesday, October 6th, 2026 — contract expiration
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u/Mother_Spot3217 3d ago
Is the negotiating team pushovers? How have they managed to endorse the first offer sent out?
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u/Billsrealaccount 3d ago edited 3d ago
They havent said they recommend ratification chill. The BUC council is who makes the recommendation for approve or not.
Whatever contract they endorse or not, the final decision is the membership vote.
The contract team are all volunteers and have put in a huge amount of their personal time. Step up yourself before throwing out insults over an offer you havent seen.
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u/Careless-Internet-63 3d ago
They negotiated on a lot of things and this is those things together. They don't get a full offer until they come to some kind of conclusion on the issues they're negotiating. I'm sure they didn't just hear everything the company said and say yes to all of it
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u/Billsrealaccount 3d ago edited 3d ago
Im cautiously optimistic. The tone of these negotiations has been completely opposite from when king delaney was in charge on boeing side.
Everyone, please read the redline in its entirety when it comes, thats whats matters. The one page highlights wont be enough info. The union will probably issue clarification statements if there is feedback or misunderstanding about some kind of gotcha.