Second 787 line to be in South Carolina
Thu Oct 29, 2009 3:42 am
The board of Boeing decided today to site the second production line for the 787 in Charleston S.C.
Continuiously citing last Summers labor action as the reason and ignoring the problems and serious issues of crap engineering from all over the world and overseas suppliers who can't/won't do things correctly.
Boeing is committing to hiring 3800 people in Charleston while continuing laying off in BCA in the Seattle area.
South Carolina is a right to work state, and the workers @ the former Vought plant there (that Boeing had to buyout to get anything like acceptable assemblies out of in some sort of reasonable time frame) voted last month to de-certify the IAM and go non union-
Good luck as it's been my experience that if you pay peanuts, you attract monkeys
Continuiously citing last Summers labor action as the reason and ignoring the problems and serious issues of crap engineering from all over the world and overseas suppliers who can't/won't do things correctly.
Boeing is committing to hiring 3800 people in Charleston while continuing laying off in BCA in the Seattle area.
South Carolina is a right to work state, and the workers @ the former Vought plant there (that Boeing had to buyout to get anything like acceptable assemblies out of in some sort of reasonable time frame) voted last month to de-certify the IAM and go non union-
Good luck as it's been my experience that if you pay peanuts, you attract monkeys
Thu Oct 29, 2009 4:53 am
I was offered a supervisor job there back when it was Vought. I saw the quality of the people they were hiring. Most/all were from local temporary agencies. If you could breathe you were hired. Scared me so bad I said "no thanks". I knew they would be heading for serious trouble. Guess what happened?
Same thing with Gulfstream in Savannah back in the early 90's. They were coming out with the G5 and needed people. I went and saw the local temp agency labor pool they were using and again, No thanks. Sure enough, the early G5's had quite a few workmanship issues.
Ignorance and lack of knowledge with employees I can fix. Bad attitudes and stupid are a waste of everyone's time. Wanting to be a Gangsta means you will never be a decent aircraft technician in my experience.
Rant over.
Same thing with Gulfstream in Savannah back in the early 90's. They were coming out with the G5 and needed people. I went and saw the local temp agency labor pool they were using and again, No thanks. Sure enough, the early G5's had quite a few workmanship issues.
Ignorance and lack of knowledge with employees I can fix. Bad attitudes and stupid are a waste of everyone's time. Wanting to be a Gangsta means you will never be a decent aircraft technician in my experience.
Rant over.
Thu Oct 29, 2009 12:10 pm
The unions basically drove Douglas Aircraft Company out of business in southern California. Thankfully they woke up and made some concessions before the C-17 program too was ended due to high cost. Out of all the airframers in southern California, only one remains in business building aircraft rather than subassemblies.
By setting up an east coast operation Boeing benefits from a little east/west competition. If the cost of quality is too high on the east coast, Seattle will pick up more of the burden. If the labor cost is too high in Seattle, work moves out east. You also have to wonder what kind of incentives Boeing is getting from each state.
Dollars and cents determined this decision I'm sure, it is up to Boeing to manage it and make it work. If the east coast operations fail, we (Boeing) all fail.
By setting up an east coast operation Boeing benefits from a little east/west competition. If the cost of quality is too high on the east coast, Seattle will pick up more of the burden. If the labor cost is too high in Seattle, work moves out east. You also have to wonder what kind of incentives Boeing is getting from each state.
Dollars and cents determined this decision I'm sure, it is up to Boeing to manage it and make it work. If the east coast operations fail, we (Boeing) all fail.
Re: Second 787 line to be in South Carolina
Sun Nov 15, 2009 4:02 pm
A new Tee Shirt is starting to make the rounds here in the Seattle area-
South Carolina airplane Builder SCAB
South Carolina airplane Builder SCAB
Re: Second 787 line to be in South Carolina
Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:19 pm
I was not surprised to find out that Boeing was going to do more then buy Vought and straighten up their mess. I'm not mad at the company as many people are. I was surprised to find out that our senators, governor and union were strung along until the S.C. government made Boeing an offer they couldn't refuse. Altho I'm sure Boeing would have built the second line there even if no offer was made. Pretty smart if you ask me. Boeing will (in my estimation) have a HUGE HUGE learning curve to get past in order to get the 87's out the door. They will have the Everett lines to look to for guidance, but since it's still a monkey f-ing a greased football I don't see how much help they can provide? Now I'm not totally sold on the union nor am I sold on the words of Boeing, I listen to both sides and make my own decisions I understand its a business and we are all here to make money and build the highest quality safest airplanes in the world. But I see no reason to lie about your intentions. I am not one to buy into union propaganda but if it were not for the words of our state senators and governor I would never believed what the union claimed! This is all an opinion.
From the union.
Statement of District President Tom Wroblewski in Response to Second 787 Line Announcement
October 28, 2009 - "Boeing has betrayed our loyalty once again, walking away from our discussions just like they walked away from Seattle eight years ago to move to Chicago.
We tried very hard to reach an extended agreement with Boeing. We listened closely to what executives said, and suggested ideas to meet their needs. We offered concrete, real-world solutions.
But I can tell you now, no matter what Boeing says or implies, the truth is this: We did offer Boeing a 10-year contract, and even offered to go longer than that. And when we did, they seemed stunned, and stopped talking.
It was obvious to me that Boeing wasn't really interested in working with us. They didn't take our proposals seriously and they never offered any proposals of their own. Most of the time, they didn't even take notes.
It's now clear that Boeing was only using our talks as a smoke screen, and as a bargaining chip to extort a bigger tax handout from South Carolina.
I haven't reported this before -- not to our members and certainly not to the media -- because Boeing had asked for confidential talks. My word means something, so I said nothing, even while the company was leaking half-truths to reporters.
When our team asked Boeing if 10 years was going to be enough for them, they didn't respond. And when I asked them to confirm that the extended contract would secure the second 787 line for Washington state, their reply was only: "Well, it would be helpful." But they would not commit to anything.
Still, we tried to get a deal, because I know that's what our members and our community wanted. To do that, we were willing to discuss any issue to get a deal that we could recommend to our members. We floated ideas on health care costs, wages, pensions and lump sums.
None of this mattered to Boeing. They didn't want solutions, but only a scapegoat.
Our seven-week strike last year is not the reason the 787 is already more than 120 weeks behind schedule.
Instead of investing in our shared future and a highly talented workforce in a region ideally suited for aerospace, Boeing has decided to double-down on its failed 787 strategy and place an ill-advised, billion-dollar bet on a strategy that's a proven loser."
Our governor and senators said the same thing on live TV!
From the union.
Statement of District President Tom Wroblewski in Response to Second 787 Line Announcement
October 28, 2009 - "Boeing has betrayed our loyalty once again, walking away from our discussions just like they walked away from Seattle eight years ago to move to Chicago.
We tried very hard to reach an extended agreement with Boeing. We listened closely to what executives said, and suggested ideas to meet their needs. We offered concrete, real-world solutions.
But I can tell you now, no matter what Boeing says or implies, the truth is this: We did offer Boeing a 10-year contract, and even offered to go longer than that. And when we did, they seemed stunned, and stopped talking.
It was obvious to me that Boeing wasn't really interested in working with us. They didn't take our proposals seriously and they never offered any proposals of their own. Most of the time, they didn't even take notes.
It's now clear that Boeing was only using our talks as a smoke screen, and as a bargaining chip to extort a bigger tax handout from South Carolina.
I haven't reported this before -- not to our members and certainly not to the media -- because Boeing had asked for confidential talks. My word means something, so I said nothing, even while the company was leaking half-truths to reporters.
When our team asked Boeing if 10 years was going to be enough for them, they didn't respond. And when I asked them to confirm that the extended contract would secure the second 787 line for Washington state, their reply was only: "Well, it would be helpful." But they would not commit to anything.
Still, we tried to get a deal, because I know that's what our members and our community wanted. To do that, we were willing to discuss any issue to get a deal that we could recommend to our members. We floated ideas on health care costs, wages, pensions and lump sums.
None of this mattered to Boeing. They didn't want solutions, but only a scapegoat.
Our seven-week strike last year is not the reason the 787 is already more than 120 weeks behind schedule.
Instead of investing in our shared future and a highly talented workforce in a region ideally suited for aerospace, Boeing has decided to double-down on its failed 787 strategy and place an ill-advised, billion-dollar bet on a strategy that's a proven loser."
Our governor and senators said the same thing on live TV!