Againsheila
Gold Member
Well, that's capitalism for you. Free market gets to determine your salary. Starbucks CEO made $16.1 million in 2006.
These same "free markets" that are providing a $trillion bailout plan??
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Well, that's capitalism for you. Free market gets to determine your salary. Starbucks CEO made $16.1 million in 2006.
These same "free markets" that are providing a $trillion bailout plan??
These same "free markets" that are providing a $trillion bailout plan??
Yeah, the economy is bad, but Boeing made record profits and had the nerve to cut retirement and healthcare benefits. This wasn't about a pay raise, this was about take aways. Many people have already put in 20-40 years with Boeing and they've had take aways before so they could have more in their retirement years but now that so many are getting ready to retire, Boeing wants to take those retirement benefits they ALREADY worked for away from them, this at a time when they've made RECORD profits.
Yeah, Unions are terrible, after all, they brought us the 5 day work week, the end of child labor, overtime, sick leave, health benefits, holidays, gee how terrible.
One more thing, Boeing WANTED the strike. They outsourced all those parts for the 787 and when they all came together none of them fit. The strike gave Boeing an excuse for not making on time deliveries and gave them a break financially. IMO, the Union shouldn't have struck, but then if they hadn't Boeing might be going bankrupt, what with all the fines they'd have to pay for late deliveries.
The only people who lost anything in this strike was the workers, who lost the income they would have made during that time.
10 years ago i used the post office to mail all my bills etc..today i do not mail any bills..its all electronic. .. i use to sell on ebay and mail about 10 to 15 packages a week ...ebay fees got too high....i still prefer my bills in the snail mail but i am sure that will end soon with most of the switching to electronic billing. the us post office has simply grown obsolete in todays market.
I don't know what part of my posting left you with the impression that Unions were terrible. What I do think however, is that the Union especially in the Boeing instance went on strike to make a point on outsourcing and at a critical juncture in the 787 program which is already plagued with delays. The 787 is for the most part an all composite commercial aircraft and as this will be the first all composite aircraft for the commercial market Boeing has ever built delays are pretty common. Those record profits your talking about are a direct result of the two things. one is the positive reception of the 787 in the market place and the C-17 and other Military sales. Boeing has for years oursourced the construction of its aircraft. The 777, and the 737 are very good examples of that. If you care to look and being from Wa. you should know this already that China and Australia are very big players in the construction of both of those aircraft. While it may sound good to the lay public that none of the parts fit and only the Union can fix it and deliver the aircraft on time, thats a complete falshood. Boeing did NOT want this strike, why would a company want it's Machinists to strike, right before the first flight of an aircraft that will represent it's ENTIRE commercial aircraft future? The fact is the Machinists and the Boeing Unions went on strike to send a message to Boeing that they did not want any more of the construction of the 787 to go offshore at the expense of the American workers. What this little message strike did though was hurt the workers themselves and Boeing too. Great timing, during an economic crisis don't you think?
Boeing is pleased to have been invited to help Chinese companies develop skills, achieve certification, and join world aviation and supplier networks. China has a sophisticated and expanding part to play in the commercial aviation industry and has a role on all of Boeing commercial airplane models-737, 747, 767, 777 and the newest and most innovative airplane, the 787 Dreamliner. China builds horizontal stabilizers, vertical fins, the aft tail section, doors, wing panels, wire harnesses and other parts on the Next-Generation 737; 747 trailing edge wing ribs; and 747-8 ailerons, spoilers and inboard flaps, and parts of the horizontal stabilizer. China also has an important role on the new 787 Dreamliner airplane, building the rudder, wing-to-body fairing panels, leading edge and panels for the vertical fin, and other composite parts.
Boeing: The Boeing Company and China Home
Boeing says the first flight of the 787 has been delayed to 2009 as a result of the recently settled machinists strike.
Boeing says given the duration of the IAM work stoppage, first flight of the 787 Dreamliner will not be accomplished in the fourth quarter of 2008. The timeframe for first flight has not been established and will be based on the strike recovery assessment. The program is working to determine a new program schedule that will be announced when it is finalized.
Adding to the post-strike recovery issues, Boeing also reveals it is dealing with yet more fastener problems having recently discovered that some of these have been incorrectly installed on at least two aircraft in final assembly. Although Boeing was making progress toward completing assembly of the first flight test aircraft, ZA001, before the strike hit, the combined delays have pushed first flight into 2009 and first deliveries likely into 2010.
New Delays Push 787 First Flight Back To 2009 | AVIATION WEEK
Incorrectly installed!!! is a code word for " bad workmanship " . In the Aviation industry bad workmanship kills people, so of course Boeing is right in slowing the delivery to make sure these defects are all taken care of.
Now as you point on Unions, while they of course have a place in workplace. My position has been very simple, a Union should be allowed to represent those workers that wish to be represented by them, however those that do not wish that representation should not be forced to do so and money taken from them for representation they do not wish. While the Union has done from a historical perspective great things for workers, I submit that the the markets today are global and Unions need to get out of the the 1950's mode of representation and recoginze that in order to keep those jobs they need to be flexible enough to support the survival of the companies they work for. It appears at least on the surface that some Unions would rather the companies just die rather than concede one thing in order to insure the survival of the company they work for. So am I anti-union, no, am I anti-forced unionization then YES.
You don't want to see America without a GM, or a Ford or a Chrysler. I promise you, you don't want to see it.
If GM shares fall below $1 before Obama is inagurated, we're going to be in serious sh*t.
Okay, first of all, Boeing wanted the strike because it gave them an excuse for delaying delivery without having to pay fines.
As for forced union representation, I don't think anyone should be forced to join a union but I don't think they should benefit from the union either. They shouldn't get the same pay and benefits that the union members fought for.
Hmm, let's see, that means they're back to working 6 days a week 10 hours a day with no overtime, no holidays and very little pay.