GOP Talking Point Crushed!

Flaylo

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Feb 10, 2010
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Boeing, Union Strike Deal That Could Kill Controversy, GOP Talking Point




The Machinists union announced Wednesday that it had reached a tentative four-year labor agreement with the Boeing Company, a development that might end some controversy surrounding the National Labor Relations Board and take away a major Republican talking point on the economy and regulations.

According to the member-run Machinists News blog, union members will vote on a contract extension next week that would assure that Boeing builds its 737 MAX passenger jet in Washington State. Although details haven’t been released, the deal will probably clear the way for production of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner in the company's South Carolina plant, which had been put on hold when the labor board issued a controversial complaint against the company on behalf of unionized workers in Washington earlier this year.

The complaint filed in April alleged that Boeing broke labor law when it tried to establish the production line in South Carolina. The labor board's general counsel claimed that the move amounted to retaliation against Boeing's unionized workers in Washington for having gone on strike in the past.



The complaint also infuriated Republicans, particularly those in South Carolina who believed it might cost the state jobs. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and others pushed legislation that would have scuttled the complaint and even defunded the labor board. For months GOP members have used the Boeing issue to tar both the labor board and the Obama administration as pro-union job killers meddling in corporate decision-making.
 
Lithium batteries catchin' fire...
:eusa_eh:
After another emergency, FAA grounds Boeing 787s
Jan 17,`13 - The federal government grounded Boeing's newest and most technologically advanced jetliner Wednesday, declaring that U.S. airlines cannot fly the 787 again until the risk of battery fires is addressed.
The Federal Aviation Administration's emergency order affects only United Airlines, the lone U.S. carrier to operate 787s. United said it would put passengers on other aircraft and work closely with the FAA and Boeing to review its fleet of six Dreamliners. The FAA action came on the same day that Japan's two biggest airlines - which fly almost half of the world's 50 787s - voluntarily grounded them pending full safety checks. Air India has also grounded its fleet of six Boeing 787 aircraft.

Boeing said it was working around the clock with investigators. "We are confident the 787 is safe, and we stand behind its overall integrity," Jim McNerney, company chairman, president and CEO said late Wednesday in a statement. The FAA decision was another setback for a plane that was supposed to establish a new standard for jet travel but has instead been beset by one mishap after another.

The latest trouble arose when pilots for Japan's All Nippon Airways smelled something burning and received a cockpit warning of battery problems on a flight from Yamaguchi Ube airport in western Japan to Tokyo. They made an emergency landing Wednesday at Takamatsu airport in western Japan, and passengers evacuated using inflatable slides. An inspection found that a flammable liquid had leaked from the main lithium-ion battery below and slightly behind the cockpit. Investigators found burn marks around the damage. Japan's Kyodo News agency quoted a transport ministry investigator as saying that the liquid leaked through the electrical room floor to the outside of the aircraft. The transport ministry said the leak could have led to an accident.

That problem followed a Jan. 7 battery fire aboard a Japan Airlines plane parked at Boston's Logan Airport. Both incidents involved the same type of battery, raising worries that the jet's electrical problems could be more dangerous than previously thought. "Anytime you have a fire on board - whether it's the battery that has caused it or a passenger that caused it or another electrical component - that's a very a serious situation on an aircraft and something not to be taken lightly," said Kevin Hiatt, president of the Flight Safety Foundation. So far, no one has suggested that the plane's fundamental design can't be fixed. But it's unclear how much will need to be changed.

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