Members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), Boeing’s largest white-collar union, rejected the company’s proposed four-year contracts on Aug. 21, despite several members describing the terms as better than expected. The professional unit, representing roughly 13,000 workers, voted 64.25% against its offer, while the approximately 4,000-member technical unit rejected its proposal by 71.87%. Strike authorization received stronger support, at 87.82% and 89.71%, respectively. The proposals included wage increases of about 29.4% to 31.9% over four years, but inflation-linked raises were capped at 3%. SPEEA’s negotiating team plans to survey members on what changes would be needed to secure approval. Reports differ on the contract expiration date, citing Oct. 6 and Oct. 7; a strike could disrupt upstream engineering, testing and certification work for aircraft including the delayed 737 MAX 10 and 777-9.