The workers will receive an average award of about $97,000 from Boeing for their work at Edwards Air Force Base or at a Boeing facility in Palmdale from 2001 to the present if they are or were represented by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace IFPTE Local 2001.
Boeing had denied union representation to a handful of employees working jobs the union contended were covered by union contracts and withheld the disputed pay.
Of the 484 employees, 30 are from Long Beach, the union reported Wednesday. Union representatives held an informational session at the Long Beach Hyatt at the Pike on Wednesday afternoon that drew a handful of workers.
A Boeing employee who declined to give his name said he found out on Saturday about the arbitration award.
“It’s all a shock,” he said. “Who expects to get something like this? For many of these guys, it’s life changing.”
The arbitrator, who made the ruling in January that was not reported until this week, said the workers are entitled to wages and benefits for Boeing work covered under the SPEEA contract, according to the union.
Rich Plunkett, the director of Strategic Development for SPEEA, said he was glad to see the years he put in to secure the multimillion-dollar arbitration finally come to fruition.
“It’s not just about the money. It’s getting what you were owed and doing right by employees who generate profit for Boeing,” he said.
Tim Healy, labor communications spokesman for Boeing, said the company was disappointed in the arbitrator’s decision siding with SPEEA, which maintained that the contract language should extend to the majority of engineers in California, including those who had been added over the years because of mergers. The company argued that those who were added should be able to vote on whether they wanted to be represented by SPEEA.
“We’re disappointed that the arbitrator ruled against Boeing, but we’re working with SPEEA to fulfill this ‘make work’ award,” Healy said.
The company must fulfill the award by May 21, he said.
Several current and retired employees who showed up to SPEEA’s informational session on Wednesday said they were pleasantly surprised to be notified by mail of their back pay, which ranged from a few dollars to more than $400,000.
For Riverside resident James Thornell, who retired from Boeing after suffering a major stroke, the arbitration award comes as his long-term disability money runs out in May.
“We had been living off of that money and it ends next month, and we didn’t even know about this and we just found out about it,” he said. “We lucked out.”
(Karen Robes Meeks - Long Beach Press Telegram)
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