Tulsa World: Boeing seeks no-strike Dreamliner pact

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Boeing seeks no-strike Dreamliner pact

A DEAL?
Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire: She is trying to keep the work there.

By SUSANNA RAY Bloomberg News
Published: 10/27/2009 2:24 AM
Last Modified: 10/27/2009 9:18 AM

Boeing Co., founded in Seattle in 1916 when the lumberman Bill Boeing built a wooden float plane on Lake Union, wants a no-strike agreement from machinists before it puts a second assembly line for the 787 Dreamliner in the Puget Sound region where it assembles commercial jets, people familiar with the situation said. Without a deal, Boeing will likely set up a new line near a factory it bought in South Carolina, they said.

Boeing's board was weighing the options Monday, the sources said. The threat is serious enough that Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire appealed in person to Boeing's commercial-jet chief, and a group of local business leaders including Microsoft Corp. General Counsel Brad Smith sent an open letter urging Boeing to keep the work in the state.

"I probably talk about this issue half a dozen times a day, which for the schedule of a governor is pretty intense," Gregoire said.

Local politicians, union leaders and labor experts say the standoff is reminiscent of the auto industry's labor battles of the 1980s, when carmakers moved production from Michigan to less union-friendly states in the South. Strikes by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers have shuttered Boeing's factories four times in 20 years.

A decision will be announced within "the next couple of weeks," Boeing CEO Jim McNerney said last week after Boeing reported a $1.56 billion third-quarter loss, caused partly by delays in the Dreamliner, which is more than two years late. The 787 would be in

"better shape" had the machinists not walked out for two months last year, he said.

"I don't blame this totally on the union, but the mix hasn't worked well yet," McNerney said. "So we've either got to satisfy ourselves that the mix is different or we've got to diversify our labor base."

Unlike Washington, South Carolina has right to work, which means employees there can't be forced to join a union. The 787's rear fuselage is already made in North Charleston, S.C., where Vought Aircraft Industries had a contract to ship sections to Boeing for final assembly in Everett, Wash. Boeing bought the operations from Vought in July, and workers there rejected membership in the machinists union last month.

Seattle's fortunes have long been tied to aerospace. During a Boeing slump in 1971, job cuts so soured the economy that two local realtors put up a billboard that read, "Will the last person leaving Seattle turn out the lights." The Everett jumbo-jet factory is one of the region's biggest tourism attractions.

Boeing kept its commercial operations in the Seattle area even after moving a few hundred executives to Chicago in 2001 to establish a corporate headquarters closer to U.S. financial centers. The industry supports more than 200,000 jobs and generates $36 billion for Washington state, according to a study prepared for Snohomish County.

"Commercial aerospace is in our blood," said Gregoire, who presented the state's case at a September meeting. By SUSANNA RAY Bloomberg News

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FS, Broken Arrow (10/27/2009 2:06:46 PM)

Gramps, (10/27/2009 8:29:30 AM)
... snip

The purpose of Capitalism is to create a standard of living for your people.
____________________________

Actually, its purpose is to create wealth, and that translates to your comment, "The purpose of Capitalism is to create a standard of living for your people".

THIS DOES NOT MEAN ANOTHER COUNTRY'S PEOPLE - IT MEANS, SIMPLY, THE COUNTRY ONE CALLS THEIR HOME.

Boeing and many other companies have been allowed to move far too much of our capital, both monetary and intellectual, to other countries, the executives of those companies hoping to make their pile and be gone before the stink hits the rotating airfoil.

This is treasonous conduct, but as long as the money flows freely in DC, there's no hope for the USA.

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Gramps, (10/27/2009 8:29:30 AM)

Boeing is just another American labor-hating corporation, and would like to make everything in China. The problem is who will have any money to fly once all manufacturing is gone from America?
You can't do business with people who don't have any money. The purpose of Capitalism is to create a standard of living for your people.

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