Union says engineers ratify, technical workers reject Boeing contract offers

(Reuters) – The union that represents thousands of Boeing Co employees said late on Monday that a four-year contract extension offer was ratified by engineers but rejected by technical workers.

Engineers in the professional unit of Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) voted 3,837 to 3,658 to approve the contract, according to the union’s statement.

Casting ballots on a similar agreement, technical workers rejected the contract offer by a vote of 1,268 to 1,654, the statement showed.

“Our professional unit employees will be covered by the ratified contract that expires in 2026 and the technical unit will remain covered by the existing contract through 2022,” Boeing said http://bit.ly/2Q0bOmT in a separate statement.

The new contract for engineers would apply the company’s existing 12-week Paid Parental Leave policy to SPEEA-represented employees, Boeing said last month.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D’Silva)