Boeing extends talks with engineers

Boeing Co., the world's second- largest commercial-jet maker, said talks with its engineering union will extend beyond tomorrow's target for a new three-year contract agreement.

Boeing and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, or SPEEA, had given Nov. 11 as the target date for finalizing an offer to the Chicago-based planemaker's 20,500 engineers and technical workers. Both sides wanted to post the proposal in time for union members to return mail-in ballots for a tally by Dec. 1, the date their current contract runs out, but said they could extend the contract if necessary.

``We are not on a strict schedule, but we're certainly optimistic that we can come to an agreement this week,'' said Karen Fincutter, a spokeswoman for Boeing in Seattle, the company's manufacturing hub where the negotiations are being held. ``There have been agreements on certain issues but there are still discussions to be had on important issues, and we are making sure that we hear the union's priorities.''

The engineering group has threatened to strike over job- security and compensation complaints similar to the ones that Boeing's 27,000 machinists stopped work over on Sept. 6. That walkout, which didn't end until Nov. 2, cut Boeing's profit by about $10.3 million a day. Final talks with SPEEA, representing Boeing workers in Washington state, Oregon, Utah and California, began Oct. 29.

``We've made some progress, but we're not done,'' Ray Goforth, the union's executive director, said in a telephone interview tonight. ``At this stage, we're waiting for compensation counterproposals from the company, so we're at the mercy of their schedule.

``Our intention is to keep negotiating until we have a deal,'' Goforth said.