Posted on 07/12/2002 1:39:04 PM PDT by Dead Dog
Boeing's Machinists, engineers join forces
Taking a page out of Boeing's own playbook, the aerospace giant's two largest unions went to Wall Street yesterday to argue that Boeing's actions to increase shareholder value actually do the opposite.
Leaders of the unions that represent Boeing's hourly and engineering workers two groups that would seem to have little in common except that their contracts both expire this year told analysts in New York that Boeing is jeopardizing its future for the sake of short-term financial gains.
Analysts' reaction to the joint presentation by the International Association of Machinists and Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) appeared largely noncommittal.
The unprecedented meeting was part of a push by the Machinists union, in particular, to marshal public support for its contract negotiations in the midst of Boeing layoffs that have reduced its membership rolls.
On Tuesday, the Machinists, for the first time, corralled a half-dozen political heavyweights, including Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels and King County Executive Ron Sims, for their strike-sanction vote at Memorial Stadium. U.S. Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, both D-Wash., sent their chiefs of staff and state Sen. Betty Sheldon stepped in for Senate Majority Leader Sid Snyder, whose wife was having surgery.
Connie Kelliher, spokeswoman for Machinists District 751 in Seattle, which represents more than 19,000 hourly Boeing workers in the Puget Sound area, said questions about Boeing's continued presence in the region spurred the union's outreach.
"We feel our contract has ramifications beyond Boeing," Kelliher said. "The whole community is concerned now."
During the vote, the Machinists read a letter signed by all 11 U.S. senators and representatives from Washington state, wishing them successful negotiations and which said, in part, "despite the pain of massive layoffs, we must focus on what has long been at the core of the Boeing Co.'s success its skilled work force."
Kelliher said the letter showed the extent of the Machinists' sway: "How often do you get these congressional delegations to agree on anything?"
Marianne Bichsel, Nickels' spokeswoman, said the mayor has long supported unions and workers. She said the mayor wasn't choosing sides and that his decision to attend was unrelated to Boeing's defection to Chicago.
"It's unfortunate that they moved the headquarters, but we still have a lot of good-paying (Boeing) jobs here," Bichsel said.
Boeing spokesman Tom Koehler said the company was not bothered by the political show of solidarity.
"It's what elected officials do, they represent their constituents. And the Machinists are a big constituent," he said.
Yesterday, Machinists and SPEEA leaders argued before a dozen analysts in attendance and on a telephone conference call that Boeing is mortgaging its future with "financial engineering" that emphasizes short-term stock performance at the expense of investments in its work force and in products.
They noted that Boeing's rival, Airbus, has a bigger backlog of jetliner orders and may soon surpass Boeing in deliveries as well. They accused Boeing's management of shortchanging research-and-development spending to buy back Boeing's stock to prop up share prices.
Never send a bunch of socialists to do any job.
Boeing expects layoffs to total about 30,000
July 3
Mulally: Global Boeing must share
"...Alan Mulally, president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group, said Boeing can't act like British colonialists extracting wealth from other countries and exporting it all back home.Mulally, speaking to The News Tribune editorial board, said that with 70 percent of Boeing's commercial airplanes sold to airlines operating outside the United States, Boeing has an obligation to build parts of its aircraft overseas.
"We just operate everywhere," he said. "We need to include everybody around the world in the asset utilization. They buy our products and pay up. We can't just extract wealth from other countries and pay ourselves.
"And the United States has no divine right to our standard of living," Mulally added, defending Boeing's overseas parts production. ..."
Yep, NWO of "Globalism" coming on, to increase CEO's standard of living. Even will adopt socialist lingo and false moralities to further the cause of his own pocketbook. The unions in this case are a hope for us all.
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