TRANSPORTATION

Boeing, Engineers Set to Talk: Contract negotiations between Boeing Co. and the union representing its 28,000 engineers, scientists and technical employees will begin today, union spokesmen said. The current three-year contract between Boeing and the union, the Seattle Professional Engineering Employees Assn., or SPEEA, is due to expire at midnight Dec. 1. In today’s meeting, the union will present its contract proposals and discuss ground rules for the talks, said SPEEA’s executive director, Charles Bofferding. Formal “main table” negotiations which include a discussion of a salary package totaling over $1 billion, are not scheduled to begin until Nov. 1. Bofferding said he anticipated “harmonious and successful negotiations.”