Everett

After a week of balloting, Boeing’s union representing engineering and technician personnel has voted to ratify the company's latest contract proposals, which are scheduled to take effect on Oct. 7.

This decision follows a period where members had previously rejected initial proposals while simultaneously passing a strike authorization measure. The vote regarding the second set of proposals concluded at noon on Thursday. According to the Society of Professional Engineering Employees, 67.62% of the professional unit and 53.48% of the technical unit cast ballots in favor of the four-year agreements.

We secured many victories that some thought were completely out of reach when this negotiation cycle started, the negotiations team said in a statement to members. All of these gains would not have been possible without your individual actions and our collective strength.

Negotiations between the union’s representatives and Boeing officials commenced in July. On Aug. 21, members of the bargaining units voted against the aerospace company's initial proposed offers despite the negotiations teams unanimous endorsement.

At that time, union representatives said that despite Boeing executives appearing sincere and solution-focused, the membership has made clear that the current offer falls short.

Boeing issued a statement Thursday after the results were announced.

Were pleased with the outcome of the vote, said Ben Nimmergut, vice president and functional chief engineer for production engineering for Boeing. We look forward to working with our team to support our companys continued recovery and meeting our customer commitments now and into the future.

The professional unit, representing nearly 13,000 engineers and scientists, and technical unit, representing around 4,000 analysts, designers, technicians and other specialists, consist of workers at Boeing sites in Washington, Oregon, California and Utah. Around half the workers in the professional and technical bargaining units work in Everett.

Boeings initial offer included aggregate wage pool increases of 29.4% over four years, the largest wage-pool increase for union members since 1983. The company also proposed three extra days of paid leave per year, lower limits on mandatory overtime and more virtual work opportunities.

Boeing proposed biannual meetings for the union and senior executives to discuss future work deployment and a joint labor-management committee on the use of Artificial Intelligence.

Of the professional unit, 64.3% voted against the initial proposed contract. Of the technical unit, 71.9% voted no. Ninety-two percent of eligible union members voted in August, with 87.8% of the professional unit and 89.7% of the technical unit voting in favor of the strike authorization. A strike could not have taken place until after the current contracts expire on Oct. 6.

Union representatives returned to the bargaining table Sept. 8 before receiving Boeings new offers three days later .

The contracts will raise the professional units average base salary from $152,000 to $208,000 and the technical units base salary from $119,000 to $163,000. Compared to the initial offer, this is an increase of $11,000 and $8,000, respectively.

Alongside a 10% wage increase for the pay period beginning Friday, another 4% increase would come in March 2027.

The updated agreements outline a wage structure that allocates 6% of the total salary pool for increases in 2028, 2029, and 2030. A local labor representative explained in a September 21 email that 4% of these annual adjustments are guaranteed, while the remaining 2% consists of discretionary funds that company leadership may distribute each year. Over the four-year duration of the contracts, the total compensation growth reaches 34%, a figure that includes provisions for promotions and out-of-sequence pay raises but does not account for compounding.

Beyond salary changes, the proposals introduce updated terms regarding remote work policies and set new limits on overtime for employees in the professional unit. The agreements also establish a fresh procedure for sharing future staffing requirements, allowing union members to better plan their career trajectories within the aerospace manufacturer.

Key benefits included in the initial proposal have remained unchanged in this new round of negotiations. These include improved healthcare and retirement packages, two extra days of paid vacation, one additional floating holiday, and three days of bereavement leave.

According to a notice released on Thursday, the ratification votes yielded mixed results across the two main employee groups. In the professional unit, 7,895 members approved the deal while 3,780 voted against it. The technical unit saw 2,061 members accept the offer and 1,793 reject it.

The negotiating team cautioned that reaching a tentative agreement does not conclude the process. In a statement, the group emphasized the need to collaborate with the company and, when necessary, exert pressure through joint committees and internal forums to restore an environment conducive to rebuilding trust with the membership base, which they noted has declined over recent decades. The team warned that without this renewed trust, the company and the union risk returning to the same impasse that characterized the start of the current negotiation cycle.