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<< Previous   of   Next >> (click to enlarge) Fred Kiga   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Mike Benbow, Business Editor benbow@heraldnet.com   Published: Wednesday, October 8, 2008 Boeing can't afford to be 'strike zone,' exec says By Michelle Dunlop Herald Writer EVERETT -- Grounded: that's how the Boeing Co. described its position, due to the Machinists' strike, at the governor's aerospace summit in Everett Tuesday. "We can't afford to be known as the strike zone," Fred Kiga, Boeing's vice president of government and community relations, told members of Washington's aerospace community. Kiga reiterated the point made Monday by Boeing's chief executive, Jim McNerney, in a memo to employees: Boeing isn't willing to bargain on outsourcing. The Machinists put job security as top priority for reaching a new labor contract with the aerospace company. But 33 days into a labor strike, neither side seems willing to bend on outsourcing. "We believe this track record of work stoppages is earning us a reputation as an unreliable supplier," Kiga said. But the Machinists point to a multitude of mishaps by Boeing's global partners as reason the company has fallen at least 15 months behind schedule on its new 787 Dreamliner jet. The union seeks guarantees that jobs typically done by union members will continue to be performed by the Machinists. "We continue to bail them (out) -- when suppliers have problems and executives make bad decisions ... fixing outsourced parts that come in wrong, and working round-the-clock to fix the flawed 787 production model," union leaders wrote in an update on the Machinists' Web site Tuesday. "It is our members who step up and get the job done for Boeing every time. We will continue to do that, but not at the price of our jobs." On Monday, Scott Carson, Boeing's president of commercial airplanes, also addressed outsourcing concerns in a message to workers. He wrote that job security in a global economy is achieved by maintaining flexibility and satisfying customers -- something the company says it isn't doing during a work stoppage. The recent turmoil in the market demonstrates that "future success and job stability cannot be protected by words on paper," Carson wrote. Boeing and its Machinists union failed to reach a new three-year labor contract last month, sending the Machinists out on strike Sept. 6. The union said Boeing's offer fell short in wages, pension, health care and job security. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers went on strike against Boeing in 2005 for 28 days. The remarks by Kiga came after the Aerospace Futures Alliance, which hosted Tuesday's event, laid out the state's top priorities for retaining and growing the aerospace industry in Washington. "Washington is a high-cost state for doing business," said Linda Lanham, executive director of the alliance. The group is seeking to reduce unemployment insurance and workers compensation costs for aerospace companies. It also wants to see a statewide program started to provide training for potential aerospace workers. "We can not be complacent here," Lanham said. Gov. Chris Gregoire noted the importance of the industry in the state with about 87,000 aerospace workers making an average of $90,000 annually. She agreed that state needs training programs and pointed to recent apprenticeship initiative. As for the Machinists' strike, Gregoire said, "I truly hope that the respective parties ... can come back to the table." Because, she said, "that's good for Washington." Reporter Michelle Dunlop: 425-339-3454 or mdunlop@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Log in or register to post new comment | Log out (No heading) HEY FRED!! Guess what?? We already are known as a completely unreliable supplier when it comes to doing just about anything on time. Your comments are so completely transparent, simply toeing the company line. The company wanted and got a strike. If you or any other executive with the company truly cared about actually serving our customers, you would have found a way to put a contract out there that addressed the issues. Many of the posts have talked about the problems with the 787 suppliers, but offloading has been the cause of delays for years prior to the new program. How about the crappy insulation blankets that were made in mexico that were too short and too wide? What about the wire bundles that were offloaded to corinth, texas and then required short-sighted boeing workers to go down there and teach them how to make them right? If you want to be known as a reliable supplier, maybe something totally radical like working with the employees rather than against them would do the trick. Or try the advice you paid Demming over a million dollars for: Get rid of about 5 levels of your management pyramid! The bottom line is Fred and all his cohorts are only too happy to give the media a sound-bite when it suits their whims, but they really only care about their million dollar salaries, maintained on the backs of the workers. That is until they can find somewhere to offlaod the work; of course the quality and schedule will both suffer, but the executives will all get raises, so what do they care. Bill Boeing is spinning in his grave at the travesty that has been made of his company. J Marchant | Oct 8, 2008 12:51 pm | 1 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) BTW, Brendan, and I apologize for misspelling your name previously; Have you considered writing this up as an editorial and submitting it to the Times/PI or Herald for formal publication? I think it would be very well received. CC At the Big B | Oct 8, 2008 9:42 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Thank you Thank you Brenden, You said very eloquently what many of us feel but cannot adequately express. It seems far easier for executives to blame the workers for their failures as they shield themselves from the slings and arrows of our communities who are hurt by the strike as well and find us to the be most convenient targets for their frustrations. CC At the Big B | Oct 8, 2008 9:35 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) The rise of competitors in other countries is not due to strikes. The rise of competitors is due to the technology transfer that has been going on for the last 10+ years to foreign suppliers. Machinists and engineers see the rise of the aerospace capability of companies within these countries as a result of Boeing's ever larger outsourcing programs (China, Japan, Russia), enabling them to become our competitors. We have busily been transferring technology and engineering know-how to them; knowledge that has been hard won through the experience of building 60 years worth of the best jet airliners in the world. This offload practice has been lowering the natural barriers to entry for competitors while Boeing apparently singlemindly looks at short-to-midterm cost and stock price. The acceleration of the rise of competitors is the long-term natural result of Boeing management's expanded offload policies. Some offloading makes sense, most won't dispute that. But it is the impression of the rank and file with whom I have worked that we have gone above and beyond what makes sense for the *long term* health of the company. And it saddens us. Brendan Bayne | Oct 8, 2008 8:09 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal (No heading) Then come back to the table and let's get this thing resolved. The company is the one holding up progress and if they are getting a black eye in the business community, it's their own fault. And quit spouting misinformation, the "average" wages continue to rise w/ every article! It's gone from $58,000 all the way up to $90,000. CC At the Big B | Oct 8, 2008 6:08 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

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