Scott Carson the executive vice president of The Boeing Company and president and chief executive officer of Boeing Commercial Airplanes made this threat directed at my Union Brothers and Sisters.
Boeing: 'Nothing structural' caused delays'
The 777 freighter, as well as all the planes already in production, is being delayed more than eight weeks by the strike that ended Nov. 2.
Boeing is working with its two largest Seattle-based unions even as it pursues creating a nonunion labor base in a location outside the area that wouldn't be affected in another walkout, Carson said Wednesday. The company's factories in the Puget Sound region have been shuttered by four strikes by Machinists in the past two decades.
Boeing's top executives most certainly are NOT working to improve labor relations with its two largest Seattle-based unions. Of the many Machinist brothers and sisters that I have talked to since the 58 day strike ended, 100% believe that Boeing wanted this strike, in order to give Boeing's new partners time to fix their production problems and get caught up.
A number of these major sub-contractors are producing large sections of airliners for the first time. Why? It is the result of Boeing executives big push to out-source as much of the work on the new 787 as they could. Out-sourcing so much work has led to production problems on the 787 and three embarrassing production delays totaling 15 months before the strike started.
Boeing Hopes for Quick Back-To-Work
The proposed contract doesn't affect the major outsourcing model that Boeing has developed for the 787, which company executives say is a blueprint for future programs. Boeing's widebody headquarters in Everett, Wash., acts as an integrator for 787 fuselage and wing assemblies produced elsewhere. It does not play a significant manufacturing role.
Carson and his boss Boeing CEO Jim McNerney seem to view Boeing's workforce as overhead to be shed any way they can, instead of being Boeing's most valuable assets. I suspect that overpaid company presidents making threats to their workers won't do much to improve labor relations at Boeing.