According to the National Labor Relations Board charge, Boeing chose to set up its second 787 production line in North Charleston, S.C., in retaliation against the Machinists’ union because of repeated strikes against the company and the possibility the union could go on strike again. The NLRB is simply doing its job, defending the rights of workers to collectively bargain and to act in concerted activity. Were Boeing’s actions to go unchecked, companies would be free to coerce and intimidate workers, their unions and states into deals that primarily profit the company. This would make a mockery of the fundamental human right of workers to stand together in order to balance out the power of corporations. The NLRB issued the complaint against Boeing after a careful investigation, providing Boeing with every opportunity to defend itself. It even granted Boeing’s numerous requests for delay. In the end, the NLRB decided it was compelled to act in the face of Boeing’s admission that its move was motivated by its desire to avoid lawful collective bargaining. Boeing admitted to retaliating against the union and in so doing made an illegal transfer of work. Rather than blaming the NLRB for doing its job, we should all be asking why Boeing proceeded so recklessly with so much at stake. Boeing, grow up and face your responsibilities. — Jeff Johnson, president of the Washington State Labor Council, in the Seattle Times
A common refrain among recession-weary Americans is that we don’t make anything in this country anymore. However, workers in South Carolina have a chance to make something — Boeing 787 Dreamliners that would be flown around the world — and yet Obama’s labor-cozy appointees to the National Labor Relations Board are intent on scuttling it. Boeing, a vital U.S. company, wants to build a plant in South Carolina and bring good-paying manufacturing jobs to the state. It already has poured billions into the facilities and hired 1,000 workers. But the NLRB filed a lawsuit last month to force Boeing back to Washington state, where workers would be represented by a union. The NLRB claims Boeing decided to open a nonunion plant in South Carolina in retaliation for past strikes in Washington. So what if it did? The NLRB’s action is beyond unsettling. The lawsuit, in effect, is an effort to tell an American company how to operate its business and to intimidate its officers. Shouldn’t Boeing be allowed to build a plant where it sees fit, assuming the state welcomes it with open arms, as South Carolina has? President Obama, who has been silent on this issue, needs to tell his appointees to the NLRB that this type of intimidation is unacceptable. If he doesn’t, it’s only a matter of time until it spreads to other parts of the country.
— Denver Post
The National Labor Relations Board was “wrong and overreached its authority” in trying to block the Boeing Co. from opening its new factory in South Carolina, Boeing CEO Jim McNerney argued in a Wall Street Journal commentary. The NLRB charges that Boeing built the plant in a right-to-work state to punish union-represented employees in Washington state. But McNerney argues that Boeing “made a rational, legal business decision about the allocation of our capital and the placement of new work within the U.S.” And he contends that “despite the ups-and-downs, we hold no animus toward union members, and we have never sought to threaten or punish them for exercising their rights, as the NLRB claims.”
Here is how the Affordable Airfares program at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport has paid off and why the Legislature needs to keep supporting it: The airport has had the country’s 11th-largest decrease in airfares since 2000. In the fourth quarter of last year, the average airfare out of Wichita was $345, which was less than the average fare of $367 in Oklahoma City and $360 in Tulsa. Though Kansas City’s average fare was lower, Wichita is closing the gap. In 2000, the average fare difference between Wichita and Kansas City was $138; now it’s $41.
It’s encouraging that Gov. Sam Brownback is holding his first economic summit in Wichita Monday, and that it’s focusing on the aviation industry. Brownback understands how important this industry is to the Kansas economy. It’s also good that the summit is being held at the National Center for Aviation Training, 4004 N. Webb. NCAT needs continued state support to keep training aviation workers.
Sales of Boeing 747s and Airbus A380s to private clients are breaking records, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Wealth Report blog. Boeing delivered 12 VIP jets in 2010 and has four new orders. Half a dozen Boeing 747-8s — each with a list price of $317 million — are on backlog for private customers, and a dozen Boeing 787s also are scheduled for sale. The blog said that sales of business jumbo jets offer further proof of the growing wealth divide between the hyper-rich (billionaires) and the mere millionaires.
The affordable airfares program at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport faces another hurdle this week, as the House Appropriations Committee is scheduled to begin final deliberations on next year’s budget. Gov. Sam Brownback supports keeping $5 million in state funding for the program, which he noted is a “critical economic-growth initiative in south-central Kansas.” But some lawmakers, primarily from northeast Kansas, have questioned the program, and the funding barely survived an 11-11 Appropriations Committee vote last month. Given the tough budget choices the state faces, local lawmakers will have to work extra hard to keep this important funding in place.
President Obama “punted to the 41-yard line, and the Chinese have the ball.” — Sen. Pat Roberts (in photo), R-Kan., in Liberal, on the nation’s finances
“Only Chicago politics could tip the scales in favor of Boeing’s inferior plane.” — Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., blaming the hometown of Boeing and President Obama for Airbus’ (and Alabama’s) loss of the tanker contract
“Stopped by the courthouse and advanced voted today before KS Sec of State Kobach starts requiring stool samples and DNA swabs to vote.” — Kevin Myles, president of the Wichita and Kansas chapters of the NAACP, in a Thursday tweet
“The Phill Kline Judicial Employment Bill.” — Opponents’ nickname for a House-passed measure to give the governor full authority to appoint judges to the Kansas Court of Appeals, subject to Senate confirmation
Boeing and Kansas got a huge win Thursday with the Air Force tanker decision. Many analysts had expected another win by Airbus, so the announcement was a bit of a surprise. Of course, lawmakers from Alabama and elsewhere are sure to challenge the decision, just as our lawmakers did the last time, so it might take a while before the deal is finalized.
Just as children forced to take castor oil hated the experience, millions of Americans loathed the intrusive body-scan and pat-down security measures imposed at U.S. airports last fall. Surprisingly, though, the revulsion period was briefer than first assumed as travelers realized the added security rules may, after all, be good for them. The real question is, of course: How much safety is too much safety in this decade-long war on terror? The only sane answer is that we don’t know. One thing, though, is clear: Militant jihadist groups exist on our continent, hate America and, by extension, all Western civilization. Body scans and pat downs are odious, but ignoring the possibility of being blown up to smithereens while landing in, say, Detroit is reckless. — Bogdan Kipling
The Constitution protects Americans against unreasonable search and seizures, a requirement historically interpreted to prevent searches like these without reasonable suspicion. Taking what amount to nude photographs or conducting an aggressive and intrusive physical search based merely on a desire to travel by air is unprecedented. We have the tools to conduct effective searches for potential terrorists. Equipment exists to detect explosives — the so-called “puffer” machine — that is both more effective and less intrusive than either pat downs or X-rays. Credit-card companies already conduct more effective identity checks on their customers — completed in a matter of seconds. Surely they are not beyond the capability of either the airlines or the Transportation Security Administration. — Andrew Morriss, University of Alabama
Good for the U.S. House for passing the Defense Level Playing Field Act, which is aimed at requiring the Department of Defense to take into consideration the impact of illegal foreign subsidies in the tanker competition. “Passage of this tanker legislation continues to put pressure on the Pentagon to do the right thing and give our American workers a fair shot at competing for the KC-X aerial refueling tanker,” Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, said in a statement. Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Hays, said in a statement: “The Pentagon must not ignore the facts, that billions in illegal subsidies have put our workers at a disadvantage in this competition. Especially in this economy, the Pentagon should not be working against millions of Americans who are looking for work.”
Hawker Beechcraft chairman and CEO Bill Boisture described the agreement to keep Hawker in Wichita as an “early Christmas” for the community. Indeed. Per the deal, the state, Sedgwick County and the city of Wichita would provide $35 million in research and development funds, and the state would provide another $10 million in training funds. In exchange, Hawker pledges to keep its headquarters and all its production lines in Wichita and maintain at least 4,000 employees through 2020. Particular credit for the deal goes to Gov. Mark Parkinson, who has been working with Hawker and union officials for months.
Here’s hoping that Boeing executives are wrong in their belief that the Air Force is likely to award its long-delayed tanker contract to Airbus. The executives are worried because an Air Force analysis reportedly scored the Airbus A330 tanker higher than the Boeing 767 tanker in a mission-effectiveness rating. Boeing should have scored much higher than Airbus on military infrastructure construction costs and fuel burn, as the 767 is significantly more fuel-efficient than the A330 and requires less room to take off, turn around and “bed down” at airfields. But the Boeing executives are concerned that the Air Force won’t properly calculate these cost savings, thus minimizing Boeing’s advantage. That had better not be the case.
Many people have pointed to Israel’s airline security as confirmation that the United States has lost its way on the issue. But, as Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus noted, “the Israeli approach is an alluring mirage that would not withstand transplantation. Israel has two airports and 50 flights a day. It conducts intrusive background checks and questions passengers extensively. The process can take hours.” Her Post colleague Dana Milbank figured the cost of replicating Israel’s screening system at $40 billion more a year. He wrote: “Implementing the Israeli model also would amount to a massive government jobs program — just the sort of junk conservatives said they wouldn’t touch.”
After so many years and false starts, no one could have been surprised by Monday’s news that the U.S. Air Force is delaying the decision on a new generation of air-refueling tankers yet again, this time until early 2011. The real news is that the contract decision already has been tainted by the Air Force’s mistaken transfer of sensitive information to Boeing and EADS about each other’s bids — a mix-up that prompted two staffers’ firings but could fuel a protest by the eventual loser in the bidding war. Faith is fading in the ability of Defense Secretary Robert Gates to handle the process of replacing the current fleet of Boeing KC-135 tankers, which are 50 years old. It now looks like the tanker saga will outlast the time in office of Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, dubbed “Tanker Todd” by President Bush for his zealous advocacy of Boeing and the Wichita jobs that a Boeing win would generate.
Inevitably, the Transportation Security Administration’s new procedures have opened a rich new vein on humor. Some of the jokes, as rounded up by a New York Times blog:
– “Can’t see London, can’t see France, unless we see your underpants.”
– “TSA: If we did our job any better, we’d have to buy you dinner first.”
– “TSA: We are now free to move about your pants.”
– “TSA: Wanna fly? Drop your fly.”
– “TSA: It’s not a grope. It’s a freedom pat.”
– “TSA: We rub you the wrong way, so you can be on your way.”
In addition to the outrage about body scans and pat downs, some airline travelers, fed up with fussy or screaming children, are calling for airlines to implement child-free flights or at least designate “family only” sections on planes, the New York Times reported. According to one survey, 59 percent of passengers support having a special section on flights for families, and nearly 20 percent would like child-free flights. But neither option is likely to happen, given the financial problems of the airline industry and the logistical difficulty of both ideas. “No way is any airline going to discourage someone from taking one flight over another,” an industry spokesman said. Besides, as one travel adviser noted: “Plenty of business travelers are annoying, too.”
As “don’t touch my junk” has joined “don’t Tase me, bro” in the American lexicon in recent days, the public reaction to the Transportation Security Administration’s new “enhanced pat-down” has been loud and negative. But consider the alternatives, including death. “Groin checks or not, tight security is what we need now, unless you want another angry al-Qaida kid with plastic explosives in his tighty whities sitting next to you on the way to Miami,” wrote New York Daily News columnist Joanna Molloy. “Hey, you don’t want to get checked, don’t fly. I can’t imagine most TSA agents enjoy zapping you or feeling around your privates. They don’t want to touch your junk. They just want it to arrive safely at its destination.” TSA Director John Pistole told a Senate committee Wednesday that the full-body scans and invasive pat-downs — used if fliers refuse the scan or set off a metal detector — are necessary to fight terrorism.
The percentage of Kansans who approve of Gov. Mark Parkinson’s job performance shot up from 41 percent in September to 51 percent in October — after he brokered a state incentives deal meant to keep Hawker Beechcraft and most of its 6,000 jobs in Wichita. In the monthly SurveyUSA polling, sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, Parkinson saw a more modest bounce, of 4 points, after he announced a deal in July that would allow Bombardier Learjet to expand in Wichita. As of last weekend’s contract rejection by Machinists union members, though, Parkinson’s Hawker Beechcraft deal is in limbo.
Good for Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, for seeking an inquiry into whether Louisiana’s offer to move Hawker Beechcraft to Baton Rouge involved federal hurricane relief funds. If that’s the case, the state needs to be penalized. It’s bad enough that Louisiana is trying to poach Hawker Beechcraft from Kansas; it shouldn’t use our tax dollars to do it.
Before Gov. Mark Parkinson, Hawker Beechcraft and the Machinists union struck the deal Tuesday that may stave off the company’s move to Louisiana, 90 percent of Sedgwick County residents polled by SurveyUSA said they were concerned (21 percent) or very concerned (69 percent) about the situation. But the poll, sponsored by KWCH, Channel 12, also tested the limits of that concern: Only 44 percent said they’d be willing to pay higher sales tax to keep Hawker Beechcraft in Wichita.
As of Tuesday’s meeting with Gov. Mark Parkinson, there is an “agreement in principle” among the state, the Machinists union and Hawker Beechcraft that will keep the “vast majority of jobs” in Wichita, to use the governor’s words. That’s outstanding news, though no guarantee. First, the union and company need to come together on a long-term contract. But the announcement at least eases the worry the community has felt since Friday, when sources told The Eagle that Louisiana had offered $400 million for Hawker Beechcraft to move there. Leaders can’t let this hometown company and its 6,000 local jobs go without a fight, and they aren’t.
The national recession may have officially ended, but there are few signs of it yet in Wichita, particularly in the aircraft industry. The latest blow was Hawker Beechcraft’s announcement today that it is laying off 350 salaried employees. Tuesday, Cessna Aircraft said it would lay off 700 hourly and salaried employees.
Members of Kansas’ congressional delegation dismissed a report this week by a panel of the World Trade Organization that Boeing Co. has received billions of dollars in illegal government subsidies, including incentives from Kansas. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., said that the U.S. subsidies pale in comparison with those provided by the European Union. “When you compare side by side the alleged Boeing subsidies with Airbus’ confirmed launch aid and illegal subsidies, it’s easy to see who tips the scales,” he said. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said that comparing launch aid to Boeing’s subsidies is “like comparing apples to oranges, and in this case, their orange is a lot bigger than our apple.” Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard, said: “I have full confidence that when the WTO makes their final rulings, it will be clear that the case against the European government is the only one of substance and consequence.”
Wichita’s grasp on aircraft manufacturing became stronger Friday with the announcement of the details of a $27 million bond-financing deal with the state that will keep Bombardier Aerospace in Kansas and assembly of the new composite Learjet 85 in Wichita. The business jet’s production will support 600 jobs, including 300 new ones — wonderful news for a community hit hard by canceled orders and job cuts. The incentives were made possible by a 2008 legislative change in response to Cessna Aircraft’s needs. It also helps that Gov. Mark Parkinson, a native Wichitan, understands the value of aviation to the Kansas economy and is willing to fight to save and strengthen it. He even signaled Friday that he might call a special session of the Legislature rather than let another state or country lure away Hawker Beechcraft. With Bombardier now in growth mode in Wichita, the Legislature’s GOP leaders should join Parkinson and local officials in doing whatever it takes to help Hawker Beechcraft stay and grow as well.
It’s understandable that Hawker Beechcraft wants to cut costs, given how the economic downturn has hammered general aviation. Still, it’s frustrating that the company is considering moving much of its work from Wichita to another state or country. Hawker has been a valuable corporate citizen and provided good-paying jobs. But Wichita has also been a good partner with the company, providing skilled workers, tax breaks, and a network of support businesses and research that have helped the company prosper. Wichita and the state need to do what they can to keep Hawker in Wichita, and it was good that Gov. Mark Parkinson met Wednesday with Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture. Union workers need to be flexible and realistic in their demands. But the company also should recognize how much this city has contributed to its success and try to stay here.
According to the National Labor Relations Board charge, Boeing chose to set up its second 787 production line in North Charleston, S.C., in retaliation against the Machinists’ union because of repeated strikes against the company and the possibility the union could go on strike again. The NLRB is simply doing its job, defending the rights of workers to collectively bargain and to act in concerted activity. Were Boeing’s actions to go unchecked, companies would be free to coerce and intimidate workers, their unions and states into deals that primarily profit the company. This would make a mockery of the fundamental human right of workers to stand together in order to balance out the power of corporations. The NLRB issued the complaint against Boeing after a careful investigation, providing Boeing with every opportunity to defend itself. It even granted Boeing’s numerous requests for delay. In the end, the NLRB decided it was compelled to act in the face of Boeing’s admission that its move was motivated by its desire to avoid lawful collective bargaining. Boeing admitted to retaliating against the union and in so doing made an illegal transfer of work. Rather than blaming the NLRB for doing its job, we should all be asking why Boeing proceeded so recklessly with so much at stake. Boeing, grow up and face your responsibilities. — Jeff Johnson, president of the Washington State Labor Council, in the Seattle Times
