I used to be proud that Boeing planes were made in Seattle. Now I’m actually scared to fly on them. The McDonnell Douglas merger was the worst thing that ever happened to American aerospace.
This whistleblower’s death is profoundly suspicious.
#Boeing had come under the spell of a seductive new theory of “knowledge” possessed by a skilled & experienced workforce as essentially not worth the ⬆️HC costs. CEO McNerney purged the veterans into early retirement. He called longtime engineers & skilled machinists -those who cared too much about the integrity of the planes & not enough about the stock price were “phenomenally talented assholes"-ostracized them into leaving the co-.
"Like most #neoliberal institutions, #Boeing had come under the spell of a seductive new theory of “knowledge” that essentially reduced the whole concept to a combination of intellectual property, trade secrets, and data, discarding “thought” and “understanding” and “complex reasoning” possessed by a skilled and experienced workforce as essentially not worth the increased health care costs"
“‘I would absolutely not fly a Max airplane,’ said Ed Pierson, a former Boeing senior manager. ‘I’ve worked in the factory where they were built, and I saw the pressure employees were under to rush the planes out the door. I tried to get them to shut down before the first crash.’
‘I would tell my family to avoid the Max. I would tell everyone, really,’ said Joe Jacobsen, a former engineer at Boeing and the Federal Aviation Administration.”
Aha, I see finally the penny has dropped in #America.... the FAA is now 'considering' halting the practice where #Boeing engineers/staff certify their own planes as airworthy.
That they could still do so after the two previous #737max crashes, tells you something about institutional capture in the #aviation industry.
Can't see Boeing coming back from this quickly....
Boeing union wants a board seat and a say on plane safety
#Boeing's largest #union is in contract talks with the beleaguered airplane company for the first time in more than a decade
— and it's seizing the moment to push for cultural change.
The International Association of Machinists is taking the opportunity to negotiate beyond standard line items like pay and retirement benefits — they want a real say in quality and safety standards.
"It's very important to us that we build a safe, quality airplane," Jon Holden, president of the 32,000-member International Association of Machinists District 751, said earlier this month as talks began.
The union represents 32,000 workers who assemble airplanes in factories in Washington state.
This is likely its "first time ever" proposing terms like this, Holden said.
As part of that effort, 🔸the union wants a seat on Boeing's board of directors🔸, Holden told the Financial Times this week.
"With what's going on these days, we are oftentimes the last line of defense," he told the paper. "We have to save this company from itself."
Union representatives on the board "would serve as a check on the CEO," Leeham News, a trade publication, wrote in January — urging a board shakeup at the company.
“CEO Jim McNerney…repeatedly invoked a slur…Those who cared too much about the integrity of the planes and not enough about the stock price were “phenomenally talented assholes,” and he encouraged his deputies to ostracize them into leaving…He initially refused to let nearly any of these talented assholes work on the 787 Dreamliner, instead outsourcing…development…The plan would save money while busting unions, a win-win, he promised investors.”
Hmmm.... its like a scene from a conspiracy thriller:
Whisteblower takes his own life during a lawsuit against large corporation.
In the film, the initially presumed suicide would be revealed to have been staged & carried out the day before he was to give explosive new evidence about his erstwhile employer.
But this isn't a film its really life & no-one can imagine a large US firm employing people to rid them of a 'turbulent' witness, can they?
Holy shit. Thanks @pluralistic now I don't want to fly anymore 😱
Boeing's 787 "Dreamliner" is manufactured ... in a non-union shop in Charleston, South Carolina. At that shop, there is a cage full of defective parts that have been pulled from production because they are not airworthy.
If you ever wonder what institutional racism looks like, disgraced Texas attorney general Ken Paxton is using taxpayer funds to "investigate" whether Boeing's obvious corporate malfeasance is "actually" a result of DEI programs with their subcontractors.
Seriously.
There are now reply-guys all over social media saying "DEI is the real cause of quality issues at Boeing."
Not stock buybacks. Not profit over safety. Minorities are bringing planes down...
"100 Palestinian and Youth led protestors have shut down WoodWard (weapons manufacturer) near Chicago IL, and stopped employees from entering. This specific Woodward facility in Niles provides the Control Actuation Systems (CAS) to #Boeing for its JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) - bombs that are currently being used to massacre over 27,000 Palestinains in Gaza over the past 4 months. Protestors have blocked every entrance to the Woodward facility to hault the production of these bombs for the day.
We demand Woodward to immediately end their weapons sales to the Israeli military and end their contracts with Boeing."
Boeing's 737 MAX troubles are nothing compared to the high-stakes labor confrontation they're about to face in 2024.
Let's put it this way, the International Association of Machinists union has already booked T-Mobile Park in Seattle for their July 17 "prepare to strike" rally, where they will vote on whether to strike.
Emboldened by union successes in 2023 (Hollywood writers, UPS, health care workers, and United Auto Workers), the IAM expects to demand
wage hikes of 40% over 4 years
reinstatement of the defined benefit pension plan lost in 2013
an end to mandatory weekend overtime
commitment from Boeing to build its next new jet in the Puget Sound region (Boeing routinely uses the threat to take business elsewhere to extract labor concessions)
Ouch. That's gonna leave a mark.
Boeing stock took a bruising today, plummeting -8% on news that loose bolts caused a 737 MAX door to blow off mid-flight last Friday.
Last year Boeing executives repeatedly told investors that by late 2025 or early 2026 "Boeing's business will have recovered from its current loss-making depths to something approaching normal." Note that they were referring to losses from the PREVIOUS 737 MAX groundings.
#oldnews
Boeing whistleblower says 787 Dreamliner could 'fall apart' in midair
> Ahead of his testimony before the Senate Wednesday, #Boeing engineer #SamSalehpour gave an interview to NBC News once again sounding the alarm about issues he found with Boeing’s #787 Dreamliner plane. He alleges that the model has fuselage flaws that could cause it to rip apart mid-air due to problems with how the metal skin is affixed to the rest of the aircraft. https://qz.com/boeing-whistleblower-787-dreamliner-unsafe-1851415569#aviation
At Seattle’s #Boeing Field, Real-Time #Video Offers a Rare Glimpse of America’s Troubled #Deportation Flights
Key details about what happens inside ICE Air would still be hidden if not for a group of #Washington activists and researchers, who are now using a live video feed from the tarmac to document the flights.