SPEEA Congratulates Local I-66 on Contract Win from Boeing

Boeing’s lockout of its unionized firefighters has ended after members of the International Association of Fire Fighters Local I-66 overwhelmingly approved a new contract offer from the company.

SPEEA is pleased with the news.

“We congratulate the Boeing Fire Fighters on their contract win,” said SPEEA President John Dimas. “By holding the line for four tough weeks of this lockout, they secured increases in staffing that will improve the safety of all of us who work for Boeing. The pay increases they secured with this deal will help address the shortfalls that have made it hard for the company to keep and retain its specialized industrial Fire Fighters.”

Dimas, who is an IFPTE SPEEA area vice president, added: “Congratulations to Local I-66. We look forward to seeing you back at work!”

Boeing locked out its firefighters on May 4, after members of the union had rejected two previous contract offers. It was the first work stoppage involving union firefighters anywhere in the United States in more than four decades.

The Boeing Fire Fighters had strong support from other union workers at Boeing, including members of SPEEA and from Machinists Union District Lodges 751 and W-24, which also are in talks for a new contract for nearly 32,000 hourly production workers at Boeing’s plants in Puget Sound and Portland, Ore.

SPEEA members, staff, and retirees volunteered for picket duty with Local I-66 members and wore red on “Fire Fighter Fridays” throughout the lockout. SPEEA’s Northwest Council voted to give $100 grocery gift cards to each of the 125 locked-out union Fire Fighters, in a gesture of solidarity.

IFPTE officers joined representatives from the IAFF and other labor unions for a rally outside Boeing headquarters in Arlington, Va., on May 14.

SPEEA Council Rep David Garrett (at right) was among some 300 union activists from across Washington state to join locked-out Boeing Fire Fighters for a picket-line rally on May 18 outside Boeing’s Seattle Delivery Center at Boeing Field. (SPEEA photo by Karen McLean)