Union Greed Kills Boeing

Unions and Greed force another company out of Washington State. Boeing has chosen North Charleston, S.C. as the location for the second final assembly line for the 787 Dreamliner. This is such a blow to the economy of Washington State, and to the frustration of many from local workers to the governor. From what I have heard, one of the biggest issues has to deal with the Machinist Union. Boeing wanted a truce for 10 years. A single 10 year period where the Machinist union would not strike, which in this case is perfectly reasonable.

Looking at the big picture, Boeing did not say that they could not dispute nor negotiate a better contract, only that the union would not strike. Looking at the last strike I can see why this occurred. The last strike has hurt everyone, and the union has only themselves to blame.

For those that do not know and those that need a reminder here is what took place. Boeing passed out their last, best and final offer. Which had bonuses, raises, healthcare increases, all the things that one would want in their new contract, but the Machinist Union was greedy and wanted more. So they went on strike! Why? Because the Dreamliner Program was behind schedule and they (Union) could put extra pressure on Boeing. After 2 months some very slight items were included into the contract, very slight. The offer was almost that of what they had in the first place. The turmoil that this caused has led to other issues and did not produce the benefit that the Union was looking for long-term.

The airlines used this as leverage to get out of their contract to purchase newer planes. With the economy on a downward slide, the airlines saw this as a way that they could get out of buying the airplanes that they signed contracts to buy stating that due to the strike that Boeing would not be able to deliver on time. This tactic worked, and guaranteed sales started to go away.

Without the sales of those airplanes, Boeing has had to layoff people. According to the Seattle Times Boeing announced in January of 2009 that they were going to have to layoff about 10,000 workers. Well these layoffs have been occurring throughout the year, and has wreaked havoc with the local economy. Here are 10,000 people that are having issues paying their mortgage and other bills. It is estimated that for every 1 Boeing employee laid off that 4 others in the community suffer. So with the 10,000 Boeing workers and the 40,000 other workers in the community there is a total of over 50,000 workers being hurt by the layoffs. Now that the Dreamliner is going to be built in South Carolina, this is yet another huge blow to the economy.

So once again Union greed has caused more jobs to be moved elsewhere (South Carolinia has no union) and the union has made if almost impossible for a large company like Boeing to continue to produce jobs. Good Job Machinist Union!