NRLB decides for pilots and instructors!

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) decided today that Standards, Safety, Technical and Pilot Instructors at The Boeing Company will vote in a union-representation election to join the Airplane Manufacturing Pilot Association (AMPA) bargaining unit of SPEEA.

“Boeing’s arguments that an Armour Globe election was inappropriate were completely rejected by the NLRB,” said SPEEA Executive Director Ray Goforth. “The Armour Globe election process allows employees to vote and join an existing bargaining unit rather than creating a new bargaining unit. In this case, employees will vote to join the existing AMPA bargaining unit.”

A date has not yet been set for the NLRB administered election but it could take place within the next 30 days. The decision sets forth who is in the voting group. Boeing must provide a list of the employees by Thursday, March 29.

According to the decision, the employees include:

“All full-time and regular-part time standards pilots, safety pilots, technical pilots, and simulator-only pilots/instructors employed by the Employer at or out of its Renton, Washington facilities; excluding pilots on Pilot Early Leave, BTE pilots, executive pilots, pilots located and working remotely outside the State of Washington, office clericals, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act.”

While Boeing can ask the NLRB to review the decision, the election would likely proceed on schedule with cast ballots impounded and counted after a decision on the review.

Download a .pdf of the NLRB Decision

More on the SPEEA/AMPA Organizing webpage

Any discussion of The Boeing Company's Flight Crew Training (FCT) organization should begin in 1958, with the introduction and delivery of the first Boeing 707's to commercial airline customers like Pan American. During these early days of commercial jet operations, pilots and flight engineers who worked for Boeing's flight-test organization conducted crew training for Boeing airline customers.

A Boeing flight test pilot like Harley Beard and a flight test flight engineer like Jim Mathison would be assigned to conduct some "crew training" as part of the delivery sequence for a particular customer. Example, as part of the flight test sequence during the airline customer acceptance of a new B-707, the Boeing test pilot and flight engineer would impart instruction to the customer airline acceptance crew as to how the airplane should be operated. The airline's pilot(s) and flight engineer(s) would be allowed the opportunity to fly the airplane and make some instrument approaches and landings, most likely at Boeing Field in Seattle. Note: the Grant County--Moses Lake airport was still the Strategic Air Command's Larson AFB in those days and generally not available for civilian test and training flights.