The Boeing Company (BA) Begs Its Union: Baby, Please Don’t Go!

On the other hand, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that Boeing has really bungled these negotiations. I mean, what has it got for its troubles so far? Months and months of contentious talks have ultimately brought Boeing back to offering 5% annual pay raises to its workers — basically the same as they got under the previous contract, and really, all SPEEA ever wanted Boeing to agree to.

But if 5% is an acceptable number for Boeing, then why did it start out with demands that employees pay higher health-care costs, accept pension cuts, and accept pay raises as low as 3%? Thanks to overly aggressive demands like these, Boeing built up a vast store of ill will among its negotiating partners. Indeed, the animosity at this point is so great that an offer that — let’s be honest here — is really within spitting distance of SPEEA’s own proposal, could well be rejected, and apparently just because SPEEA is mad at how Boeing has behaved during the negotiations.

As we draw down into the final days of the union vote, here’s hoping that cooler heads ultimately prevail, and that the union members will crunch the numbers, see that at long last Boeing’s offering a pretty decent deal, and vote their pocketbooks. Here’s hoping a strike can still be averted.

The article Boeing Begs Its Union: Baby, Please Don’t Go! originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Rich Smith.

Fool contributor Rich Smith and The Motley Fool have no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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