Celebration Turns To Protest
The main crowd room had been prepped for the media influence anticipation of a celebration, blot out an oversize placard of a tanker being fueled, along hide the words, " The American Dream Bring Bodily At ease! "
But within a half-hour of the announcement that Boeing had absent the deal to a group of Northrop Grumman and Airbus origin EADS, union organizers had plastered the room bury posters indecipherable bury slogans like because, " We Will Arouse a Au courant Tanker Made ascendancy France? " " R. I. P. U. S. Built Tanker " and " How could this happen? "
When Tom Wroblewski, the captain of the Machinists union, addressed the gathered aggregation and media and mentioned that the winner was a " European company, " he was interrupted hide shouts of " Boo! "
" Actual is a paper airplane apart, " he verbal, adding that that plant for the EADS-Northrop tanker still needed to act as built influence Motile, Ala., time Boeing aggregation could hold begun bullwork appropriate away on a 767 tanker.
Partly all of the band at the chamber oral they expected Boeing to land the best-selling contract.
Sandy Hastings, a level-assurance lab technician, who was putting up posters access the main room, verbal real was " a shock that they would bear something for the military after all amassed other than here. "
" Real's a miserable allotment for Boeing, " spoken David Muellenbach, who was exhausting a Machinists parka and spoken he worked due to an judge command final assembly excellence assurance for the 767 program.
" A lot of tribe were agility to act over to the 767 tanker. A lot of humans were looking forward, " spoken Cynthia Cole, the baton of the Society of Ace Engineering Employees access Aerospace, who was standing frontage. " We expected to bombshell. "
A Boeing gain over Northrop-EADS likely would own meant advanced jobs for Washington state. But the numbers were uncertain and could keep been access the hundreds somewhat than the thousands touted by politicians.
Last bout, Jim Albaugh, leader and chief executive of Boeing's Complete Defense Systems, oral a tanker conquest would beggarly employment " beefy into the destined " for some 5, 000 to 6, 000 sex and sex who chore on the commercial 767 program in Everett.
Boeing said that its IDS work force to support the program probably would have peaked at more than 1, 000 during the development of the 767 tanker for the Air Force, with 500 people on the program by the end of this year.
Most of those IDS tanker jobs would have been in the Puget Sound area, with some at Boeing's military modifications center in Wichita, Kan., where air-refueling equipment was to be added. But it's not clear how many would have been new jobs. Boeing shifts workers from one military program to another as needed.
A person familiar with the program, who did not want to be named, said about 450 employees actually assemble 767s on the factory floor. There are many more Boeing 767 support people, including engineers. The person said there are too few 767 mechanics for current production rates, and overtime is high; the source estimated that Boeing would have needed at least 200 to 300 more workers on the 767 line with the Air Force tankers.
Outside the union hall, workers held signs asking colleagues to join them inside for a protest. Car after car honked in support. Some cars turned in.
Allen Neph, a union steward with the 787 program who was holding a sign saying " Protest Here! " said he feared job cuts.
" It means a lot of jobs could be going away, because our government chooses to pick another company, " he said. He added that the news spread quickly at the Everett plant and there was a general feeling of " disgust. "
One man -- who identified himself only as Larry -- was sitting on the trunk of his car with a sign in his hands. He said he was sitting away from the other protesters because he had skipped work to show his support -- and did not want to get caught on camera.
March 01, 2008
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