Boeing has made a second contract offer to its white-collar engineering and technicians union, hoping again to avoid a costly strike after union members rejected the company’s first offer in August. 

The new offer comes just days after Boeing and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, or SPEEA, returned to the bargaining table to iron out a new deal. 

During this round of negotiations, the parties focused on higher pay raises. SPEEA members said the first contract offer fell short on its pay proposal, particularly because it did not offer enough guaranteed wage increases.

The negotiating teams this week also discussed remote work, retention and protection from outsourcing union work to nonunion shops, in the U.S. or around the world.

SPEEA’s negotiating team recommended members accept the proposed contract, which they said includes a 10% guaranteed wage increase effective Oct. 16 and other wage gains. The proposal addresses remote work and other workplace concerns raised during negotiations.

The SPEEA team described the offer as much improved from the one rejected by members last month.

“The results of these negotiations could not have been possible without the unity and solidarity that our members have shown over the last few weeks,” bargaining team members said in a joint statement. “These offers … represent a real step forward toward improving our pay and work lives and rebuilding the relationship between Boeing leadership and our union’s members.”

The bargaining team will now send the deal to a group of union leaders who will recommend whether rank-and-file members should accept or reject the contract.

Boeing’s Ben Nimmergut, vice president and functional chief engineer for product engineering, said the proposal “addresses the top priorities identified by our employees and SPEEA’s bargaining teams.”

“We’re optimistic this will allow all of us to focus on the important work ahead,” Nimmergut said in a statement Friday evening.

SPEEA represents about 17,000 workers in Boeing’s Washington facilities and nearby states. The contract negotiations, which began in July, will result in collective bargaining agreements for two of its largest units; the professional unit represents about 13,000 engineers and scientists, and the technical unit represents about 4,000 analysts, technicians, planners and specialists.

SPEEA’s negotiating team endorsed the first deal Boeing offered in July, but union members rejected the offer, with 64% of the professional unit voting no and nearly 72% of the tech unit voting against the deal. 

Both units overwhelmingly authorized a strike, if the union’s negotiating team called one. A strike would not begin until the current contract expires Oct. 6. 

SPEEA said the vote results showed union members had a “deep mistrust of Boeing leaders,” with members feeling that engineering and technical decisions were overruled or ignored, and that quality and safety took a back seat to the production schedule.

After the vote, Boeing said it had “no choice” but to begin implementing a strike contingency plan to keep up with commitments to its customers and employees, Nimmergut said previously in a note to Boeing employees. 

In August, the company began posting job listings for contractor positions, preparing to temporarily fill roles if SPEEA members walk out.

Boeing said the first contract offer would have increased the average base salary for members of the professional unit by $45,000, from $152,000 to $197,000 over the length of the four-year agreement. It would have increased the average base salary for the tech unit by $35,000, from $119,000 to $154,000, according to the company.

Union members said the offer didn’t have enough guarantees, particularly after years of wages that had not kept up with the rate of inflation in the Seattle area. 

In addition to the guaranteed 10% pay increase, the offer put forward Friday includes a 4% guaranteed wage increase in 2027 and then a 6% annual increase to wage pools, which are divided among the workforce based on inflation and performance metrics. Those wage pools will include a 4% guaranteed raise for all members each year, the union said.

SPEEA members will vote on whether to adopt the proposal in coming weeks. A date for that vote has not been set.