Great day in history, ironic photo of past
Editor, The Times:
It was a great day for Boeing with the successful launch of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s first flight.
I could not help but react to the picture on page A17 that so illuminated the reason for the two- year manufacturing delay [“Building the 787,” News, Dec. 15], as well the long strike by the Machinists union.
The photo of June Trubshaw holding a picket sign that reads, “Fair Contract Now,” says all that needs to be said about the 787 delay.
Every three years the union complains that the contract is unfair and then the negotiations begin on a new agreement. Three years later, the previously agreed to agreement is unfair and new negotiations begin again.
The “Fair Contract Now” sign is a symbol of the overall malaise that has taken over the production of new aircraft in the Puget Sound.
The opportunity was available during the recent showdown between the union and Boeing for the union to eliminate a second production line in South Carolina. The union refused to believe that Boeing would relocate production out of the Pacific Northwest, and now there is a new 787 production line being established in South Carolina.
I hope Trubshaw is satisfied that her effort, on behalf of her union, helped Boeing to make the decision it did.
The picture says more than a thousand words.
— James M. Clark, Edmonds
Big whoop — enjoy your flight
It’s a new plane with new innovations and improvements, which hasn’t made its way to the airline industry yet [“Spirits soar on 787’s wings,” page one, Dec. 16].
When the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner does make it to the airline industry, chances are it will take to the bank whatever cost-effective money-saving measures were invented, and innovative designs will either not be passed on to customers or be considered luxuries worth charging more for.
By the time the airlines are done picking it apart and parsing the extra tiers of cost, there will be so many layers of haves and have nots that those in the bottom half of the bottom tiers will feel more like outcasts than valued passengers.
And for all the gee-whiz improvements, passengers at the gate, delayed, denied and frustrated will be in no mood to care.
Boeing’s engineering feats will be wasted by airlines more interested in salvaging profit at the expense of customer satisfaction.
Enjoy your flight.
— Mike Moore, Kent
Making Washington a right-to-work state
Indeed “Strike history colors Boeing decisions,” [Opinion, editorial, Dec. 9], and the Pacific Northwest lost, as The Times noted.
Consider this only the latest in a series of Boeing decisions. The International Association of Machinists leadership still considers this move to South Carolina a company error and no fault of theirs.
Don’t expect a change in attitude.
Unions have a history of escalating behavior, and kill or cripple industries (coal, railroads, airlines), companies (Ford, GM and Chrysler), even countries (France and Germany). To avoid a similar fate, the Pacific Northwest needs community action to preserve aerospace jobs.
It will take determined political leadership, but changing Washington to a right-to-work state would have the desired effect. It would also give the governor options, which Gov. Chris Gregoire currently lacks, to deal with the state budget crises in a logical fashion.
— Lionel C. Bohrer, Federal Way
Editorial ignores historical outsourcing facts
The recent editorial claiming that Boeing’s moves to the South was not outsourcing ignores the historical facts.
In the 1950s, long before jobs were being sent to Mexico or Asia, the Southern states, determined to preserve their low-wage economies and make sure that unions would not force blacks and whites to work side-by-side for the same wage, instituted so-called right-to-work laws.
Corporations, particularly the auto industry, moved jobs to the low-wage South, devastating much of the Northern auto industry.
This was the original outsourcing, and we are feeling its effects even today.
— David Echols, Kirkland