Boeing's Future of Flight

[TANSTAAFL]

I've lived in Seattle for just over two years now and have finally taken the Future of Flight tour*. It's $15 which seems kind of expensive for the tour you'll get, but it's also not something you visit as often as a Zoo or Aquarium. I came mostly to see the new 787 and rolling 777 line. The 787 line is up and churning out a bunch of aircraft, now waiting around for FAA approval. Very cool facility to see. 787 is a modern marvel and I especially like the changes to the human factors engineering aspect, such as reducing jet lag with lighting tricks.

If you haven't seen the facility or haven't in a long time ago, I recommend checking it out when in the area. Easy to find, takes 90 minutes start to finish and free parking. I'll probably take the tour again in a few years assuming I wont have to fly to Charleston to do it--irony.

*When I arrived in Seattle those carnies were striking amidst an economic downtown when many of us were losing jobs and struggling--honestly it disgusted me. Not to mention their strike forced layoffs to ripple through their vendors.

Read More

 

[rdb241]

Well I have been with the company for 23 years. At the time of the contract the economy was booming. The company reported record profits. I have literally sweat gallons on the floor each year to get these planes out the door. All my hard work and 23 years of dedication and the company did not want to share any of it's profits by rewarding the people that make the money flow. They were trying to take some medical benifits from us among other things like take away from my father's retirement after he put in 37 years. The layoff situation was not a result of the strike. The global economic downturn is what caused the layoffs. When airlines are canceling orders and people are standing around with nothing to do...from a buisness stand point what would you do? You don't continue to build planes that nobody will buy. It is true that the company is the biggest employer of this state and it does create a ripple effect through out the community, but the lay offs were not caused by the labor strike. The Everett tour is kinda cool. When you get up close to the big planes, it is hard to believe that something that big can actually get off the ground.

 

[TANSTAAFL]

Everyone makes the money flow when you belong to a business. Why are unions apt to believe the burden of work is their own? That's not pride, that's entitlement.

You lost. Boeing lost. Everything that touches you lost. Was it worth it to be paid $150/wk and move you and your family to COBRA insurance? Many Boeing machinists (we can talk about SEEPA too if you'd like) found work where they could, well below the above-average living they've grown accustomed. Some workers took serious long-term blows to their credit and even filed for bankruptcy.

The demands for healthcare and benefits the union was fighting for were trivial and insulting to those outside Boeing. Boeing's benefits are better than those lucky enough to work for one of our regional giants: Such as Amazon.com, Costco, Safeco, Philips, Eddie Bauer, Nintendo and Starbucks. Only Microsoft has you beat. I can drudge up all the IAM demands from 2008 if you'd like to support my above argument, but it won't garner any sympathy.

Boeing Posts Quarterly Loss on Strike Impact and Charges

• Fourth-quarter revenues declined to $12.7 billion from $17.5 billion as labor strike pushed airplane deliveries out of the quarter
• Fourth-quarter EPS declined to loss of $0.08 per share, reduced by an estimated total of $1.79 due to strike, 747 charge and litigation-related reserve
• Backlog grew 8 percent in 2008 to a record $352 billion

<broken link removed>

You're telling me a strike that postponed billions in revenues, damaged vendor-customer relations (Branson thinks you're all idiots), billions in market losses, ruined management-employee relationships, future sales losses and a muddied goodwill did not or will not lead to layoffs? Maybe the 2008 layoffs were not caused by the strike, but the 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012 layoffs will be partially a result of the damage done in late 2008.

Boeing strikes are devastating to our local economy, aerospace industry, airlines, our military, <broken link removed> , titanium suppliers. This isn't the industrial revolution and ya'll aren't working in coal mines or digging for blood diamonds. Boeing is a sweet gig for a really cool company doing something, while small, affects us all. Times are changing and the American union is on the way out.

Those profits the unions were eying as theirs, funny enough, are what help get a company through economic contractions. As this is a gun forum, I'd say a whole lot of people shot themselves in the foot?