Boeing

Yesterday, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) District 19 issued a complaint against Boeing in the matter involving the reclassification of approximately 230 computing jobs from a Seattle Professional Engineering Employees Association (SPEEA) Tech Unit classification to a non- represented, salaried payroll classification.

The NLRB complaint alleges the company unlawfully removed these jobs from the SPEEA Tech Unit and reclassified them as non-represented, exempt positions. SPEEA recently filed an unfair labor practice charge with the NLRB on this issue.

"Although we are disappointed the Board chose to issue a complaint, we welcome the opportunity to resolve the issues that led to SPEEA's filing of the unfair labor practice charge," said Sants Contreras, Company Offices director of SPEEA union relations.

The issuance of a complaint means the NLRB believes this matter requires further exploration by an administrative law judge. The judge will hear testimony and make a recommendation to the NLRB on the evidence.

The hearing, set for September, will give Boeing the opportunity to prove that by reclassifying these jobs Boeing did not violate the law and did not violate the labor agreement with SPEEA.

"We believe we acted within our rights to classify these positions appropriately. In addition, we followed the same reclassification procedures we have been using for the past 25 years," Contreras said.