January 13, 2006 / No. 1996
Representing aerospace professionals with competence, integrity and action
Committees
outline priorities
for legislative
sessions
L
egislative sessions in Washington
state and Kansas opened Jan. 9 and
SPEEA’s three legislative committees are ready to meet with lawmakers on
key issues.
Members in the Wichita Engineering Unit receive ballots to vote on Boeing’s second contract offer.
WEU accepts contract offer from Boeing
W
ICHITA, KAN. – Members in
the Wichita Engineering Unit
(WEU) approved a new threeyear contract with The Boeing Company
in voting on Dec. 20.
Approved by 73% of the voting members, the new contract includes a lumpsum bonus, payouts from the Employee
Incentive Plan (EIP) and wage increases
during the next three years.
The agreement was reached during a second round of negotiations after members rejected the initial contract offer for
engineers working at Boeing’s Wichita
Integrated Defense Systems.
“We were extremely pleased to get this
completed by the end of the year,” said
Bob Brewer, SPEEA Midwest director.
“There are many good things in this contract and avenues for us to continue to
work on improvements.”
The election results showed 184 ‘accept’
and 69 ‘reject’ votes. The new agreement
took affect immediately as the previous
contract expired Dec. 5.
The contract gave represented employees a
4.5% lump sum bonus paid before the year
ended. It also created wage increase pools
of 5% in year one, 4% in year two, and
4% in the final year. Individual employees
are guaranteed a 1% increase in each year
and a total of 4.5% over the three years of
the contract.
By returning to the bargaining table after
the initial rejection on Dec. 5, members
secured an agreement to form a joint compensation committee with Boeing to investigate and determine appropriate marketbase pay for aerospace engineers. In past
years, Boeing has supplemented the wage
pools with additional money.
“That’s a good possibility with this contract,”
said Charles Bofferding, SPEEA executive
director. “We really look at negotiations as an
on-going process. The need to increase the size
of the pools will not go away. We’ll be working
with Boeing management to show them that
the pools need to be supplemented.”
Wage increase pools at Spirit AeroSystems,
negotiated during contract talks after the
sale, have already been supplemented.
Additional improvements from the initial
offer include reducing the duration from four
to three years, keeping Wichita engineers
in-synch with Boeing engineers in the Puget
Sound Professional Unit. In addition, WEU
negotiators secured a letter of understanding
recognizing the need to find a replacement for
medical coverage provided to employees who
retire early. While the benefit remains for qualifying existing employees, it is not available to
employees hired after Dec. 31, 2006.
Calendars available from
Council Reps . . . 3
Looking for leaders –
Executive Board Election . . . 4
The regional and national SPEEA
Legislative and Public Affairs (L&PA)
committees came up with a list of priorities – with some overlapping areas affecting jobs, wages, and safety.
Midwest L&PA Vice-Chair Debbie
Logsdon said their committee plans to
share information packets with the lawmakers on where SPEEA stands on the
issues, along with recommended goals and
suggestions for achieving those goals. “We
can offer help – such as member input on
specific issues.”
“Labor needs to be out there everyday just
to keep what we have,” Logsdon said. “ We
need to do it for our kids and grandkids.
Like those who have gone before us who
fought for the rights we have today, it’s our
responsibility to do it for our kids.”
The Midwest team plans to go to Topeka
March 2-4 for ‘Washington Days,’ when
U.S. lawmakers will join state lawmakers
in meetings with voters in the state capitol.
Joel Funfar, chair of the SPEEA L&PA,
urges members to get involved in the committee, but also to simply reach out to the
lawmakers representing their districts.
“Any politician listens to two things – people who vote them into office and money,”
Funfar said. “Since SPEEA doesn’t yet
make political donations, our only leverage is in our members getting active. Our
members’ e-mails, visits and phone calls
help get elected leaders to vote on issues
important to SPEEA members.”
continued on page 5
State outsourcing
task force . . . P8
Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers (IFPTE) Local 2001, AFL-CIO, CLC • www.speea.org
2 • SPEEA NEWS / January 13, 2006 / No. 1996
BY CHARLES BOFFERDING
Notes from the Executive Director
New Year, new beginnings,
new challenges, new ideas
I
like to start off each year with three
things to help focus staff ’s actions for
the year. (We pick three things because
two is too few and people can’t remember four.) We then take those three things
and combine them with SPEEA’s goals as
defined by the elected leaders and outline
our plan for the year.
This past year has been a fire-drill year.
Puget Sound negotiations, SPIRIT sale
and negotiations,
arbitrations and
just the day-today stuff that, by
itself, would keep
us all busy the
whole year. The
fire-drill year kept
us focused on what
we were doing and,
as a result, our
“circles” became
smaller and the
spaces between us opened a bit. Therefore,
the first thing on our list for 2006 is to
RECONNECT. We need to make a conscious effort to reconnect both internally
(with each other) and externally (at the
institution level).
RECONNECT we need to ask each other
what we want our union to do and how we
want to do it. We need to RETHINK what
we do and how we do it.
Am I the only one who thinks the world is
getting a bit malicious? Partisan politics is
the best example of what I’m talking about.
People can forget that they are working
for something more than personal victory and fall to backbiting and insensitivity. From time to
time, we all need
to be reminded
what our real goals
and principles are,
what we really
want to do and
how we want to
do it. REMIND
is the third thing
on our list. We all
need to REMIND
each other (both
give and take) what our primary goal is
(positive impact for members) and what
our principles are (behaving as constructive
collaborative builders).
RECONNECT,
RETHINK
and REMIND.
As our aging workforce retires and The
Boeing Company, Spirit AeroSystems,
BAE Systems, and Triumph Composite
continue to hire, we will get, literally,
thousands of new members. New members
mean new ways of thinking, new desires
and possibly new goals. This leads us to
our second focus point, to RETHINK.
The world is changing, our membership is changing and it is time to rethink
what we do and how we do it. After we
So that’s the three focus points for this
year: RECONNECT, RETHINK and
REMIND.
These ideas will be combined with SPEEA’s
institutional goals as recently defined by
SPEEA leaders and we will have an outline
of a plan for the year.
Plans are good, and success is even better.
And this leads us to the one thing that
does not change from year to year - active
involvement and support of our membership is the critical ingredient to our success.
Compensation disparity settlement
S
ettlement checks in the Beck v. Boeing gender disparity compensation lawsuit
are expected to be mailed in January 2006. Settlement Services, the independent
claims administrator, anticipates receiving the checks from Boeing by midJanuary. The claims administrator plans to send the checks within five business days
after receiving the checks.
The check amounts will be based on a formula defined by the court settlement, according to a message recorded on the claims administrator’s voice mail. The claims administrator does not know the amount of each check, nor whether a person’s claim was
considered eligible.
To confirm your address with the claims administrator, call Settlement Services toll free
at 1-866-854-5146. For more details on the lawsuit, go to www.beckvboeing.com.
President
Jennifer D. MacKay
Executive Director
Charles Bofferding
Executive Board
Tom McCarty
David Patzwald
Larry Marrell
Cynthia Cole
Alan Rice
Bill Hartig
Treasurer
Secretary
NW Regional VP
NW Regional VP
NW Regional VP
MW Regional VP
SPEEA Council Officers
Jimmie Mathis
Judi Hurd
Mark Schuetz
Chair
Treasurer
Secretary
Midwest Regional Council Officers
Debbie Logsdon
Lloyd Bonham
Rhonda Greer
Chair
Treasurer
Secretary
Northwest Regional Council Officers
Bob Wilkerson
Paul Wojciechowski
Joel Funfar
Chair
Treasurer
Secretary
SPEEA Publications
Bill Dugovich
Lori Dupuis
Rich Kremnetz
Karen McLean
Communications Director
Graphic Designer
Printing/Mail Manager
Publications Editor
[email protected]
www.speea.org
SEATTLE HALL
15205 52nd Ave S • Seattle, WA 98188
M-Th, 8 am to 6 pm • Fri, 8 am to 4:30 pm
Phone: (206) 433-0991
EVERETT HALL
2414 106th St. SW
Everett, WA 98204
M-F, 8 am to 4:30 pm
Phone: (425) 355-2883
WICHITA HALL
973 S Glendale St • Wichita, KS 67218
M-F, 8:30 am to 5 pm
Phone: (316) 682-0262
SPEEA NEWS / January 13, 2006 / No. 1996
Northwest Council highlights – Dec. 8, 2005
P
re-meeting speakers: Larry Stokke,
Puget Sound occupational review
leader and Kari Rankins, director of
structures/classifications (both from Boeing
World Headquarters), gave a high-level presentation on the upcoming 6A occupation
review. This review will affect approximately
44,000 Boeing employees corporate-wide, of
which about 20,000 are SPEEA-represented.
Pre-submitted new business:
• NW05-074 Completion of
Committee Charter. It is moved:
THE NORTHWEST COUNCIL
ACCEPTS THE WORK OF THE
TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE
AS COMPLETE, APPRECIATES
THE WORK PERFORMED BY THE
COMMITTEE AND DISMISSES THE
COMMITTEE. The motion passed.
• NW05-075 Revision of Northwest
General Policy on Committees. It
is moved that: THE FOLLOWING
SHALL BE ADDED TO SPEEA
NORTHWEST POLICY SECTION
III (COMMITTEES): DURING
R E F O R M I N G , N O RT H W E S T
COUNCIL COMMITTEES
MAY PLACE A REQUEST FOR
STAFF FOCAL SUPPORT WITH
THE NORTHWEST COUNCIL
OFFICERS. THE NORTHWEST
COUNCIL OFFICERS SHALL
REVIEW THE REQUEST AND
PRESENT SAID REQUEST
TO THE EXECUTIVE BOARD
FOR ACTION. NO INDIVIDUAL STAFF MEMBER SHALL BE
ASSIGNED AS FOCAL SUPPORT
TO ANY NORTHWEST COUNCIL
COMMITTEE WITHOUT THE
R E C O R D E D A P P RO VA L O F
THE NORTHWEST COUNCIL
OFFICERS AND THE CONCURRENCE OF THE REQUESTING
COMMIT TEE. DURING THE
INTERVAL BETWEEN REFORMI N G S , A N Y N O RT H W E S T
COUNCIL COMMITTEE MAY
REQUEST A CHANGE IN STAFF
FOCALS, ACCORDING TO THIS
PROCEDURE. The motion failed.
New business
• NW05-077 Proposed 2006/2007
Budget for Nor thwest Region
Council. The motion passed.
NW Regional VP Report
Larry Marrell (NW Region vice president)
reported:
• A CESO Review Committee was
formed including Cynthia Cole (NW
Region vice president), Tom McCarty
(SPEEA treasurer), Pauline Tamblyn
(SPEEA comptroller), Joel Funfar
(NW council secretary) and Judi Hurd
(SPEEA council treasurer).
• AIL Insurance has been reinstated
offering a no-cost $2,000 Accidental
Death and Dismemberment insurance
policy for SPEEA regular members.
• Paul Shearon, SPEEA staff, is running
for IFPTE Secretary/Treasurer.
NW Regional
Committee Reports
• Ted Nykreim, chair of the Health and
Wellness Committee, reported on hospitals and BMI issues.
• Jim Mathis, SPEEA Council chair,
reported on the status of the NW bylaws.
NW Council officers’
announcements
•3
Calendars
available from
Council Reps
T
he 2006 edition of the SPEEA
Pocket Calendar is available
from Council Representatives in
the workplace starting Friday, Jan. 20.
Calendars are marked with dates and
events important to SPEEA members.
They are a great place to keep track of
your own daily meetings and events.
Members are also receiving their 2006
membership cards in the mail during
the next week. Included with the cards
this year is a “SPEEA Member” window sticker. The “cling” stickers are easily placed and removed from windows.
Now you can display your SPEEA
membership with pride!
Visit your Council Rep and pick up
your pocket calendar. The ‘Find your
Council Rep’ link on the SPEEA website allows you to find the name and
work location of each Council Rep.
Pocket calendars are also available at
any SPEEA office.
2006
POCKE
T CALE
N
DAR
NW Treasurer’s report – Paul Wojciechowski,
NW Council treasurer, reported that we have
under run 30% on the 2005 budget.
Bob Wilkerson, NW Council chairman,
reported:
• Erin Redwing, SPEEA member,
recently passed away. For additional
information, please contact Bob.
• The NW Recognition banquet is
scheduled for March 11, 2006.
Society of Pro
fessional En
gineering
Employe
es in Aeros
Internation
pace
al Fe
and Technic deration of Professio
nal
al Enginee
rs (IFPTE)
Local
2001 AFL-C
IO, CLC
ww
w.speea.org
SPEEA seeking labor reps for community college committees
I
nterested in serving as a SPEEA labor
rep on a community college advisory committees? Eligible applicants
need to be interested in sharing their
expertise and work experience to give the
college committees an outside perspective. Send your name, contact information and why you’re interested via e-mail
to [email protected].
Opportunities include:
• H i g h l i n e Wo r k e r R e t r a i n i n g
Advisory Committee – this committee
provides big-picture planning for state
aid to help students who were laid off
(in Des Moines, Wash.)
• Cascadia Community College
Wo r k e r R e t r a i n i n g A d v i s o r y
Committee – this committee provides
big-picture planning for state aid to
help students who were laid off (in
Bothell, Wash.)
• Shoreline Community College
– Computer Information Systems
Advisory Committee (north of Seattle)
• Highline Community College
– Computer Information Systems
Advisory Committee (in Des Moines,
Wash.)
4 • SPEEA NEWS / January 13, 2006 / No. 1996
SPEEA activist dies
L
arry Hole, a Wichita SPEEA supporter, died Jan. 2 after an unsuccessful surgery to remove a brain
tumor. Hole had been a member of the
Wichita Engineering Unit since 2001.
Hole was inducted into the 2004 class
of “Fellow Members” by the National
Society of Professional Engineers, and the
Kansas Society of Professional Engineers
named him “Engineer of the Year” in
2004. He was a senior specialist engineer
at Boeing Wichita Integrated Defense
Systems. In lieu of flowers, donations can
be made in his memory to the Wichita
State University Engineering Department
Scholarship Fund or the Andover
(Kansas) United Methodist Church.
‘Iron Jawed Angels’
at SPEEA Everett
J
oin other SPEEA members at the
movies at 5 p.m., Thursday, Jan.
26, for a special showing of ‘Iron
Jawed Angels,’ documenting the suffragettes’ struggle for women’s right
to vote in the U.S. The Northwest
Wo m e n’s Ad v o c a c y C o m m i t t e e
(WAC) is hosting this free showing,
which includes refreshments and a
discussion group. RSVP requested:
(425) 355-2883.
Job tracker spots
outsourcing,
other violations
T
housands of companies are
exporting jobs, endangering
workers’ health or are involved
in cases of violations of workers’ rights
under the National Labor Relations
Act.
Working America, the community
affiliate of the AFL-CIO, first launched
Job Tracker with information about
companies that are exporting jobs
overseas. Now, Job Tracker includes
health and safety violations and cases
involving violations of workers’ rights.
Job Tracker exposes more than 60,000
companies with records of undermining workers’ rights around the country.
Go to the Job Tracker at
www.workingamerica.org.
Looking for leaders Executive Board election
his month, candidates will step
forward to run for SPEEA president, treasurer and secretary, serving on the Executive Board. The Board
members, including four regional vice
presidents, serve two-year terms.
T
members in good standing of the labor
organization. The labor organization
must refrain from discrimination in favor
of, or against, any candidate with respect
to distribution of campaign literature and
the use of lists of members.
Executive Board responsibilities include
monitoring expenses, preparing the annual budget and directing SPEEA’s activities
through the executive director.
Candidates who conduct a mailing will
work (at their expense) with a bonded
mailing house. Mailing labels are never
provided directly to a candidate.
Key dates
Federal law also prohibits candidates for
union office from utilizing union or company resources in the conduct of their election campaigns. This means it is inappropriate to campaign on company time or use
employer (or union) resources such as paper,
copy machines, fax machines, mail or email.
Campaign literature should not be posted on
union or company bulletin boards.
Candidates will be announced via the
SPEEA News and at www.speea.org
prior to ballots being mailed.
• Petitions due Jan. 25
• Ballots mailed Feb. 22
• Ballots counted March 8
Candidate petitions are available at any
SPEEA Hall.
Federal laws apply
to campaigning
Federal law requires labor organizations
to comply with all reasonable requests
of any candidate to distribute campaign
literature, at the candidate’s expense, to
The prohibition against using employer
(or union) resources to promote candidates
for union office applies to ALL situations
where resources are used to promote a
candidate(s), regardless of whether the party
using the employer (or union) resource is
running for union office.
SPEEA NEWS / January 13, 2006 / No. 1996
•5
NW contracts
Talks ready to start
on future of early
retiree medical and
voluntary layoff
A
t the Dec. 15 Executive Board
meeting, the E-Board chose
SPEEA members to participate
on joint SPEEA-Boeing teams created
to work on an early retirement medical
program for employees hired on Jan. 1,
2007 or later, and on a process for voluntary layoff with benefits.
Wichita Council Rep training
This group took part in a one-day Council Rep training, Dec. 5, in Wichita, for those interested in getting an
overview of the responsibilities and how SPEEA supports them in this role. Both new and seasoned Council Reps took
part as well as Area Reps. Shown here: Front row (l – r) Mike Carney, John Geckles, Regina Bean. Back row
(l – r): Steve Blackburn, George Anthony, John Proffitt and Bob Brewer (SPEEA Midwest director)
Committees outline
priorities for legislative
sessions continued from page 1
Contingent on the Council’s approval of
the budget, SPEEA L&PA delegates plan
to meet with members of the U.S. House
and Senate in Washington, D.C., and possibly pursue other options, such as the
National Conference of State Legislators,
Funfar said. “We need to be seen in order
to be heard.”
The Northwest L&PA Committee plans to
send delegates to meet with lawmakers Feb.
16, as part of the annual Washington State
Labor Council legislative conference.
However, members of the NW L&PA meet
throughout the year with lawmakers. “We
have lawmakers come in to talk about the
issues,” said Judy Mogan, chair of the
regional committee.
“We look at all the issues based on input from
the Washington State Labor Council as well
as issues important to The Boeing Company,”
Mogan said. “We look at those issues that
most affect our members, then research the
issues before meeting with lawmakers.”
The list below includes the priorities for
each committee. To learn more, attend an
L&PA meeting in your area.
Members can also make voluntary donations to the IFPTE Political Action
Committee (PAC) which provides bipartisan support to politicians who support
labor issues. For more details, go to www.
ifpte.org or contact Matt Biggs, IFPTE
legislative director, at [email protected].
Issues for 2006
SPEEA L&PA
• Outsourcing
• H-1B & L-1 visa reform
• Pension and retiree medical benefits
legislation
• FAA reauthorization legislation
• Trade agreements
• Science, Technology, Engineering and
Math (STEM) education
SPEEA L&PA meetings: Third Thursday of
every month at 5 p.m. at the SPEEA Seattle
Hall. RSVP: (206) 433-0991
Northwest L&PA
• Health care
• Education
• Outsourcing
• Workers’ compensation
• Regional transportation investment
NW L&PA meetings: Fourth Monday of
every month at 5 p.m. at the SPEEA Seattle
Hall. RSVP: (206) 433-0991
Midwest L&PA
• Workers’ compensation
• Health care
• Energy
• Living wages
• Non-members paying for services that
the union provides
MW L&PA meetings: Third Thursday of every
month at 5 p.m. RSVP: (316) 682-0262
The recently ratified Technical Unit and
Professional Unit contracts no longer
offer early retirement medical coverage for employees hired Jan. 1, 2007
or later. In a letter of understanding,
Boeing management agreed to work
with SPEEA to develop a means to pay
for future medical expenses on a taxadvantaged basis.
In a side letter passed during negotiations, Boeing agreed to also form a joint
team with SPEEA to explore options
related to voluntary layoff. One option
would make voluntary layoff with the
layoff severance benefit available to
employees, provided that a process for
management oversight and approval was
developed.
Should either effort result in a proposal, approval from SPEEA would follow
the process for interim negotiations.
In that process, the Executive Board is
the negotiation team. SPEEA’s regional council officers can concur with the
Executive Board’s efforts or take it to the
full regional council for review. Should
the Council not concur, or overturn the
Executive Board’s actions, the Executive
Board may put the proposed change to a
vote of the appropriate bargaining unit.
The team members selected by the
Executive Board for the efforts are
Sharon Moats, Cynthia Cole, Tom
McCarty, Larry Marrell and Alan Rice.
They are all members of the teams that
completed the recent negotiations for
the Northwest Prof and Tech bargaining
units.
Sign up for home e-mail
delivery of the SPEEA
Newsletter at www.speea.org
6 • SPEEA NEWS / January 13, 2006 / No. 1996
SPEEA helps
Santa give toys
to kids in need
Angel Tree in Wichita
S
PEEA Wichita Council Reps and
members took it upon themselves
to make sure Christmas was a little brighter for about 40 children in the
Angel Tree Christmas program. The
Wichita Hutchinson Labor Federation
distributed the ages and wishes of the
children, and SPEEA members picked
up gifts or donated money to those
who were able to shop for the children.
Help comes at 11th hour
W
hen SPEEA learned about a
toy crisis for the families who
depend on the Rainier Valley
Food Bank in Seattle, the Executive
Board donated $5,000 on behalf of
SPEEA. This food bank has in the past
received toy donations from two different organizations. Both organizations,
which gave a total of about 1,200 toys
last year, were unable to donate anything
for 2005. The food bank found this out
just 11 days prior to Christmas.
CPI – November
T
he U.S. City Average all-items
Consumer Price Index (CPI) for
urban wage earners and clerical
workers (CPI-W) on a 1982-84=100
base for November 2005 is 193.4. (On
a 1967=100 base, the November index
is 576.1). This is a 0.9% decrease from
October and a 3.5% increase from
November 2004. For more details, go to
the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of
Labor Statistics web site at www.bls.gov.
Everett Council Rep
Vacancy
S
PEEA is looking for members
interested in representing profs as
a Council Rep in E-13 (bldgs 487, floors 1 & 2). There is a vacancy
due to James Allen’s resignation. A
petition is available at www.speea.org
(click SPEEA Councils and look for
the link to Council Rep petition 20052007). Deadline for submitting a petition and statement is noon, February 7.
Questions? Contact Terry Hall via email at: [email protected] or call (206)
433-0991 x130.
Budget for 2006 takes shape
Union officers and staff work together to develop the 2006 budget. Clockwise from left, NW Council Chair Bob
Wilkerson, Contract Administrator Rich Plunkett, SPEEA Secretary Mark Schuetz, Comptroller Pauline
Tamblyn, SPEEA Treasurer Tom McCarty and NW Vice President Larry Marrell discuss budget items. SPEEA
Council Treasurer Judi Hurd tied into the meeting from Wichita by telephone. The SPEEA Council is scheduled
to vote on the budget on March 9th.
Joint oversight committees
now forming for Midwest units
By Bob Brewer
SPEEA Midwest Director
W
ICHITA, KAN. – Only a few
SPEEA members know much
about what goes on within the
Joint Oversight Committee (JOC). That is
unfortunate because the JOC provides an
excellent opportunity for SPEEA and the
companies to work together on mutually
beneficial issues.
The JOC is tasked with overseeing labor
management initiatives that SPEEA and
The Boeing Company or Spirit AeroSystems
undertake. SPEEA contracts charter the
committees. These joint initiatives are
intended to enhance and develop employees
as a key resource for each company. Each
JOC meeting also includes a business overview from company management.
The JOC’s oversight function includes:
1. Establishing subcommittees to handle
joint initiatives.
2. Reviewing, expanding (where appropriate), and resolving issues related to
ongoing initiatives.
3. Formulating future labor-management
cooperative initiatives.
What we want to do is provide members
with some background information on the
structure, purpose, and membership of the
JOC. Hopefully, as members gain a better
understanding of the function of the JOC, we
can use future communications to keep you
abreast of the issues being discussed, along
with company responses to issues. This is an
example of behind-the-scenes work SPEEA
leaders are typically involved in.
The charter for the JOC is in Attachment
10 (WEU), Attachment 7 (WTPU) and
IDS Wichita contracts, and Article 9 for
both WTPU and WEU Spirit contracts.
After gaining a basic understanding of how
the Joint Oversight Committee functions, and
the scope of its efforts, our hope is that some
members will consider becoming a committee
member. It is an opportunity to address with
the company any issues of particular concern.
To get your voice heard, you need a platform,
and our SPEEA contract provides the JOC
platform. Please take advantage of it.
You are encouraged to apply for the following JOC openings:
3 openings for WEU IDS Wichita
3 openings for WTPU IDS Wichita
2 openings for WEU Spirit
2 openings for WTPU Spirit
To apply, submit a brief statement of interest
and work background to the SPEEA Midwest
office, attention Sandy Early. The deadline is
5 p.m., Feb. 10. A selection committee will
review and select the appropriate number
of members for each team. Our intent is to
have teams selected and a meeting in place
during the first quarter of 2006.
SPEEA NEWS / January 13, 2006 / No. 1996
Regional tellers up for election
P
ositions on the Northwest and
Midwest Tellers Committees are open
to candidates interested in running
for election and overseeing union elections.
Five positions are available on the Midwest
Tellers Committee and seven are available on the Northwest Tellers Committee.
Election to two-year terms take place at the
same time as Executive Board elections.
Regional tellers are responsible for conducting and overseeing elections, including
counting the votes and hearing appeals.
Candidates interested in running are
required to submit a petition with at least
15 member signatures from their region.
Petitions are available on the SPEEA website at www.speea.org/general_info/
forms. Completed petitions are due at
SPEEA by 5 p.m., Jan. 25th.
Candidates must have been a regular member for the past 12 months and cannot
concurrently serve on the Executive Board,
Council or Judicial Review Committee.
Terms for successful candidates begin April
1, 2006. For more information contact
Terry Hall via email at [email protected]
or by telephone at (206) 433-0991, x130.
Joint labor/management
committees need members
T
he recently ratified Professional and
Technical Units contracts continued
the joint committees on compensation, benefits and workforce. These committees serve as a tool for open discussions
on vital topics during the interval between
negotiations. SPEEA members are encouraged to apply for these committees.
You must be a SPEEA member, and you
must be committed to fulfilling the responsibilities required as a member of the selected joint committee. This is an opportunity
to become involved in your future.
Below is a brief description of the topics
discussed by the joint committees:
• Joint Compensation Discussion
Group – This group discusses company compensation philosophy, job classification system, market relationships,
and the salary planning process as well
as other related issues that are agreed
upon by both parties.
• Joint Workforce Committee – This
committee examines issues such as
employment forecasts, redeployment activities, the new Performance
Management process, the Skills Inventory
process, the new appeal process for other
payrolls moving into SPEEA, and subcontracting and offloading.
• Joint Benefits Discussion Group –
This group discusses issues related to
the health care program, with a commitment to controlling health-care costs
through joint efforts. Other benefits
issues may be discussed at the request of
either party. Meetings will be held with
the company’s health care providers.
If you are interested in participating in a joint
committee, please e-mail the SPEEA office
at [email protected]. In the subject line, put
“Joint Committee Application.” Include the
following in your e-mail application: 1) your
name, 2) the committee you are interested in
and 3) your work phone number. Send applications by Friday, Jan. 27. You’ll be contacted
to set up a interview.
If you would like more details on any of these
committees, please call the appropriate staff:
Compensation – Kurt Hanson (206)
433-0995, ext. 120
Benefits – Kristin Farr (206) 433-0995,
ext. 129
Workforce – Rich Plunkett (206) 4330995, ext. 140
JRC returns Alan Rice to Northwest Vice President
T
h e S P E E A Ju d i c i a l R e v i e w
Committee recently upheld the
July election of Alan Rice to the
Executive Board.
Rice, an Everett Council Rep and recent
member of the Puget Sound Technical Unit
Negotiation Team, took office as a Northwest
Region Vice President on Dec. 21 when the
ruling was received by SPEEA Secretary Dave
Patzwald. Rice was elected by the Northwest
Council on July 14 to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of NW Vice President
Dave Landress.
The ruling was handed down Dec. 20 after
a lengthy review by JRC committee members Joseph Gregg and Steffon Gillyard.
Committee member Stephen Karich removed
himself from the process because he was a
candidate for the E-Board position. The JRC
was called upon to make the ruling after Rice
appealed a Tellers decision that resulted in the
election of Jill Richey to the seat in October.
The unexpired term Rice fills continues to
March 2007.
•7
Executive Board
mini-minutes –
Dec. 15, 2005
Attendees: Jennifer MacKay, Tom
McCarty, Dave Patzwald, Cynthia
Cole, Larry Marrell, Bill Hartig
Excused: Jill Ritchey
Council officers: Jim Mathis, Bob
Wilkerson, Judi Hurd
Staff: Kurt Hanson, Pauline Tamblyn,
Robin Flemming
At their regular bi-monthly meeting,
the Executive Board:
• Approved the SPEEA Properties
Inc. (SPINC) bylaws with noted
changes.
• Approved edit to the E-Board Policy
& Procedure Manual to comply
with recent referendum changes to
the SPEEA constitution.
• Heard a report that Jennifer
MacKay and Steve Leaf will be
the SPEEA representatives on the
Spokane Alliance.
• Heard a report about video conferencing upgrades to improve audio
quality between the Everett and
Seattle SPEEA meeting rooms.
• Created a team to work with
Boeing management to develop
potential Letter of Understanding
(LOU) language for an Early
Retiree Medical Plan and Voluntary
Layoff with the Severance Process,
and notify the Northwest Council
officers of the interim negotiations
and seek their concurrence of the
appointed team members.
• Authorized a $5,000 donation to the
Rainier Valley Food Bank to purchase toys for children in the name
of the SPEEA members from the
SPEEA Holiday Outreach fund.
• Request the Northwest Council
to consider a motion to end the
Puget Sound web-based discounter list by not renewing the current
discounters and not accepting new
discounters.
• Authorized the SPEEA president
to sign the revised personal services
contract for the executive director.
Sign up for home e-mail
delivery of the SPEEA
Newsletter at www.speea.org
8 • SPEEA NEWS / December 16, 2006 / No. 1995
Boeing retirement
seminars
State outsourcing task force
hears from both sides
I
n the 11 th hour of the 2005
Washington state legislative session,
the House and Senate passed a resolution to create a task force studying outsourcing’s impact on the state. SPEEA, in
coordination with WashTech, CWA, and
the Washington State Labor Council, lobbied rigorously for its passage.
Kristin Farr, SPEEA legislative director,
serves on the task force’s advisory committee, along with other labor and business
representatives.
“The goal of the task force is to push for
more accountability in terms of where our
tax dollars are being spent overseas,” said
Farr. “Unfortunately, based on the data
collection we have today, it’s been difficult
for our policy makers to determine where
state tax money is going.”
The task force includes a mix of Democrat
and Republican state senators and representatives. At the meetings, they’ve heard
from various state agencies about what
contracts have been sent overseas.
The task force learned that contracts
are typically bid on by U.S. companies
that outsource the work overseas. The
contracts are from agencies such as the
Department of Corrections, Department
of Social and Health Services, Department
of Transportation and the Department of
Information Systems, Farr said.
The task force has heard reports by some
private sector businesses on why they took
the jobs outside of the United States to
save money.
“We also heard from one company,
Comcast, which said it makes better busi-
f you are planning to retire from
Boeing this year, plan to attend
a seminar at your SPEEA hall to
learn more about:
• Boeing retirement process
• Pension plan
• Retiree medical
The seminars featuring representatives
from the Boeing retirement office fill
up fast – be sure to RSVP as soon as
possible for your preferred date and
location.
SPEEA Everett
4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, Jan. 25
• Wednesday, April 26
• Wednesday, July 26
• Wednesday, Oct. 25
RSVP: (425) 355-2883
SPEEA Seattle
5 to 7 p.m.
• Wednesday, Feb. 22
• Wednesday, May 24
• Wednesday, Aug. 23
• Wednesday, Nov. 29
RSVP: (206) 433-0991
I
ness sense to work locally rather than outsource,” Farr said. “Comcast’s CEO said
they take pride in providing local customer service and good family wage jobs in
Washington state.”
The task force plans to report to the state
legislature in the 2006 legislative session.
It will continue to meet throughout 2006,
with the goal of making a recommendation
to the 2007 session of the legislature.
Task force members include:
Sen. Linda Evans Parlette (R-12,
Wenatchee)
Sen. Jim Honeyford (R-15, Sunnyside)
Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles (D-36, Seattle)
Sen. Paull Shin (D-21, Edmonds/
Lynnwood)
Rep. Jim Clements (R-14, Yakima)
Rep. Cary Condotta (R-12, Wenatchee)
Rep. Steve Conway (D-29, S. Tacoma)
Rep. Zack Hudgins (D-11, S. Seattle/
Renton)
Advisory Committee members:
Kristin Farr, SPEEA IFPTE
Marcus Courtney, WashTech CWA
Bob Doyle, WFSE, AFSCME
Robert Hamilton, Wash. Trade Rep
Dean Hartman, business
Daniela Pierce, business
Paul Thompson, business
UPCOMING MEETING SCHEDULES
NORTHWEST MEETINGS
(ALL TIMES PST)
Monday, Jan. 16
Monday, Jan. 16
Tuesday, Jan. 17
Tuesday, Jan. 17
Wednesday, Jan. 18
Wednesday, Jan. 18
Thursday, Jan 19
Thursday, Jan. 19
Week of January 16, 2006
4:30 p.m. Everett Site Assembly
5:00 p.m. Women’s Advocacy Committee
4:30 p.m. Performance Management Training – Everett
4:30 p.m. Organizational Planning
5:00 p.m. SPEEA Governing Documents
6:00 p.m. NW Governing Documents
5:00 p.m. Council Meeting – Bellevue
5:00 p.m. Performance Management Training - Tukwila
Monday, Jan. 23
Monday, Jan. 23
Tuesday, Jan. 24
Wednesday, Jan. 25
Thursday, Jan. 26
Week of January 23, 2006
5:00 p.m. NW Legislative & Public Affairs
5:00 p.m. Facilities Committee
5:00 p.m. Heath & Wellness – Everett
5:00 p.m. Health & Wellness – Tukwila
4:00 p.m. Executive Board
MIDWEST MEETINGS
(ALL TIMES CST)
Week of January 16, 2006
Monday, Jan. 9
Wednesday, Jan. 18
5:00 p.m.
5:00 p.m.
Membership Recruitment
MW Governing Documents
Monday, Jan. 9
Week of January 23, 2006
5:00 p.m. Membership Recruitment
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