An outsourcing conference scheduled for Thursday in Seattle has been canceled because of threats of union protesting, the conference’s organizers, MexicoNow magazine said.
“It is sad that such threats take place in a free market where the focus needs to be on long-term competitiveness and lower prices for consumers,” MexicoNow editor Sergio Ornelas said in a statement.
The event has been canceled because of the potential for disruption and concern for attendees, Ornelas said.
Machinists union District 751 president Tom Wroblewski said he’s pleased the group has called off the conference.
“At a time when 358,000 Washington state residents are unemployed, untold thousands more have given up on ever finding a job – and one in seven are on food stamps — we felt it was essential that someone ask the conference participants a very pointed question: Why are you working so hard to undermine this state’s economy and send these vital aerospace jobs out of the country?,” Wroblewski said in a statement.
As long as MexicoNow’s goal is to steal American jobs, “we will continue to oppose any effort the group might make to organize any outsourcing conference in Washington state,” he said.
MexicoNow has twice canceled similar conferences scheduled in Wichita.
Allegiant Air flight attendants will vote on whether to be represented by the Transport Workers Union beginning Nov. 30.
The National Mediation Board scheduled an election in response to a petition filed last month by a majority of the carrier’s flight attendants. Election results will be tabulated Dec. 22.
All Nippon Airways, Boeing‘s first customer for its long-awaited 787 Dreamliner, called repeated delays of the aircraft “a great disappointment,” the Financial Times said.
ANA chief executive Shinichiro Ito told the Financial Times in London that the company is “pushing them to present the detailed cause of the irregularities,” that caused a fire on a 787 test flight earlier this month.
ANA had been scheduled to take delivery of the first of 55 Dreamliners on order more than two years ago.
Ito said the airline, however, remained proud to be the launch customer of the 787. He laughed off an idea that it may regret ordering the jet.
“Never! It’s a dream,” Ito told the Financial Times. “Of course we have a great disappointment about the delay, but our top priority is to have an excellent fleet.”
Nex-Tech Processing has received approval from Lockheed Martin to process aluminum components for its Joint Strike Fighter program.
The Wichita metal finishing company has been granted approval to provide penetrant inspection, hardness and conductivity testing, chromic acid anodizing, chemical conversion coatings and the prime, paint and fuel tank coating.
“This is a big win for NTP and the community as a whole,” Nex-Tech Processing general manager Terry Karst said in a statement.
Earning the approval means the company can support Wichita machine shops that fabricate parts for the Joint Strike Fighter program, Karst said.
