Story Created:
Sep 18, 2008 at 5:07 PM CST
Story Updated:
Sep 18, 2008 at 6:11 PM CST
WICHITA, Kansas , September 18, 2008 -- First Hawker Beechcraft, then Boeing machinists, now Boeing engineers say they're disappointed with the way contract negotiations are going.
The company presented its first offer to SPEEA negotiators in Seattle Wednesday. Wichita will get its offer next week.
At Boeing Wichita, after almost two weeks on strike, machinists continue to walk the picket lines.
Currently no talks are scheduled between the Machinists union and the Boeing Company. But they are just getting underway between Boeing and SPEEA -- the company's 2nd largest union representing 700 employees in Wichita .
"At this point in time I’m very concerned about the way things are headed," said SPEEA Director Bob Brewer.
Brewer says initial concerns with Boeing’s first offer to northeast engineers include health care, pension and outsourcing.
"Those huge billion dollar profits, they need to be sharing that with those employees that are absolutely putting those planes out the doors and making those profits for them," Brewer told KSN Thursday.
Boeing Wichita negotiates separately from Northeast Engineers.
A Boeing spokesperson says the only thing they've talked about so far is location and time of negotiations.
"We do want to recognize contributions that all of our employees have made to the companies success and will continue to do that by putting forth a very competitive offer once we understand the issues are and go thru the collective bargaining process," said Boeing spokesperson Jarrod Bartlett.
Neither party would say what effect striking machinists will have on negotiations, but both say they're prepared if SPEEA engineers decide to join them on the picket line.
Boeing's contract with Wichita engineers expires December 5th.