Boeing

Having reached an impasse, Boeing today appealed to striking engineers and technicians to return to work under the wage provisions of its third and final contract offer.

"We have a tremendously exciting future ahead of us in commercial, military and space, and we need our entire Boeing team on board to serve our customers and ensure our future," said Alan Mulally, Boeing senior vice president and president of the company's commercial airplanes group. "For example, just last Tuesday, we announced a decision to go into production on two new longer-range versions of our Boeing 777. Across the company, we are moving forward to capture many new market opportunities. We're asking our talented technical team to join us for the journey."

Mulally said the company is moving ahead with annual salary increases for engineers and technicians contained in the company's Feb. 26 final offer. These increases will include guaranteed increases for certain individuals, merit pay and critical skills pay adjustments. Managers will begin notifying employees on the job of their increases Monday, March 6.

The company's final contract offer guarantees annual salaried adjustment funds for engineers totaling 8 percent in 2000, including a 2 percent fund for the salaries of engineers in critical skills areas. The annual salary adjustment fund for technical workers totals 5.5 percent, with a guaranteed minimum increase of two percent.

"To the men and women of our engineering and technical workforce . . . we have a wonderful future ahead of us. With new products and new services driven by technology innovations, we will continue to lead the world of aerospace. But we need to work together to achieve it. We are taking this step to implement wage increases because it is the right thing to do for our employees, " Mulally said.

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