CEO: Strike may doom Boeing to fate of U.S. automakers

<quote>Perhaps it is time to check out robotics. The bots would not go on strike. Since this is not possible, and I cannot believe that it takes years to learn the trade. What does the learner do in order to get a paycheck during the learning years ?
Replacements can & would be found, so many trades men out of work, they would leap at the opportunity to get a job creating SAFE planes. This is not as complicated as brain surgery, now is it ? Ohterwise, these jobs will be outsourced & the workers will be out of a job, permanently. </quote>

Sure. Hire fucking machines you dolt. Then when you need to sell stuff, ask the robots to buy it.

Since when is anything the union does cost effective. I've always experienced union work to be twice the cost of non union work. And you wonder why jobs are going overseas....

Just another example of unions trying to kill the goose that laid their golden egg.

They should consider themselves fortunate to have decent paying jobs when so many other Americans are working two part time jobs with no benefits at or near near minimum wage.

Perhaps the union workers will be joining them if they play hardball too long........

The time for unions in America is over. Time to remove the antitrust protections from these organizations.

Greedy union idiots will have to sleep in the bed they made. If they keep striking over 3% pay and "job security", they will end up working as night stocker at Wal-Mart for an 80% pay cut and no "job security".

Those greedy union idiots are solely responsible for their future of un- and under-employment. I feel terrible that the are also going to pull down the hard working non-union employees at Boeing and Boeing's suppliers with them.

sweet lou wrote:

the first post is correct all these strikes have made company shift their work outside the us now all we have left are wal mart jobs.. and the union has to only blame themselves.. if im not mistaken the new 787 is sold out for years and the 737 is still racking up orders so how can u say there isnt job security.. if u continue to strike u all will be out of a job permantly

At one time, Chicago-based International Harvester had over 115,000 employees. It was one of the stocks in the 'Dow Industrials' Index.

Then after a series of prolonged strikes, the company had to begin divesting itself of assets. The construction equipment division was sold, followed by the turbine division, then the agricultural division. Finally, all that is left of the company is the truck and engine divisions, totaling 17,000 employees, roughly TEN PERCENT of the original company. And the company is just now getting out from under the burden of supporting huge numbers of retirees and surviving spouses for decades.

There is no doubt in my mind that if management and labor can't learn to work together, ANY company is in big trouble.

So what. The union dosen't care. All it wants to do is pretend that it can do anything it wants with absolutly no repercussions or consequences. If Boeing goes belly up so what. The union will say it's tha fault of managment.

With all going on now, what a shame for greedy union members to create yet more long lasting damage that they'll ultimately pay for thru lost jobs. Greed, the root of most of our current problems.

Don't forget that bHo wants to eliminate the secret ballot for union elections! Good enough for him I guess but not for you, the AMERICAN worker.

McNerney is really pulling out all of the stops. How do you compare Boeing to the automakers? They are both completely different. Boeing pulled in 4.1 Billion dollars profit last year, and would have made the same or more this year had this strike been avoided.
The fact is that airplanes sell for between 50million to 300 million dollars each. Labor only costs the company 5% of each airplane. That is a far cry from the automakers. The only reason the automakers are in their current position is that they failed to forsee that americans were going to demand more fuel efficient vehicles, and get away from the gas guzzling trucks, and suv's that these companies mass produced. The upper level executives are to blame, not the unions.
Again, we are all witnessing CEO's, and management putting the blame on the american workers, and it's unions. All the while, they are raking in millions, even though they are the ones that are responsible for the companies failing. Our economy today reflects this. All of these executives should be facing criminal charges!

Unfortunately, Boeing doesn't play on a level playing field with Airbus or other heavily-government subsidized companies. This puts increased pressure on costs that--even in the best of circumstances--would be problematic.

I'm no union fan. Unions have largely outlived their usefulness, and don't really do anything to stop alleged corporate abuse and mismanagement of employees. Boeing will either have to unravel the unions here at home or, sadly, start training workers abroad to slowly shift those jobs elsewhere over the next 5-10 years.

I just wonder how much of Boeing is UNION 27,000 hourly and 23,000 SPEEA just how many are left.

The core problem here is that unions have already driven prices up, and don't realize that they're slowing the American economy. This union will do much the same as the others: drive prices up, push more of their OWN workers out, and then strike because they don't have enough work. It's a vicious cycle, and by the time it's stopped, Boeing will have gone the way of American Motors.

John wrote:

Unfortunately, Boeing doesn't play on a level playing field with Airbus or other heavily-government subsidized companies. This puts increased pressure on costs that--even in the best of circumstances--would be problematic.
I'm no union fan. Unions have largely outlived their usefulness, and don't really do anything to stop alleged corporate abuse and mismanagement of employees. Boeing will either have to unravel the unions here at home or, sadly, start training workers abroad to slowly shift those jobs elsewhere over the next 5-10 years.

Then maybe you should try living and working in China where there are no protections that YOU enjoy thanks to unions.

Looks like the Union has held their ground, talks to resume!!!

Perhaps Boeing might consider a different method of using and respecting the value of it workers in its processes. This is not about money but about management.

I can't believe all the union bashing on this page. The union's are what built this country. I am sure that all the people bashing the union had a father or mother that was a union brother or sister putting food and clothes on their tables and backs when they were growing up...... Just maybe all the people striking what to have a better life for theie family's..... Do you think that the corporations are going to give you the best of everything , No ....... Someone has in the past went out and fought for all that some people have to this day...... So instead of bashing the union's, you may want to thank the next union brother or sister you see for setting the standards that alot of corporations follow to this day ............

go union members wrote:

I can't believe all the union bashing on this page. The union's are what built this country. I am sure that all the people bashing the union had a father or mother that was a union brother or sister putting food and clothes on their tables and backs when they were growing up...... Just maybe all the people striking what to have a better life for theie family's..... Do you think that the corporations are going to give you the best of everything , No ....... Someone has in the past went out and fought for all that some people have to this day...... So instead of bashing the union's, you may want to thank the next union brother or sister you see for setting the standards that alot of corporations follow to this day ..........

What a true statement !!!!

I am a union member on strike as well here in nashville.My parents worked in a union shop and thanks to them I have had a decent living.I will continue to fight for those that come along behind me as well..

Unions were great for this country... 100 years ago. No longer do they fight for basic worker rights. Now it's all about how much the union leadership can grab for themselves, using the workers as pawns.

There is only one person that recorded what is happening in America today...THAT PERSON WAS HITLER!