Boeing, Airbus must share American Airlines contract thanks to union issues

Boeing used to be the exclusive supplier to American Airlines until recently, but now, they have to share the largest aircraft order in aviation history with Europe’s Airbus.  Boeing got less than half the order.

Some, like Barrons, say it is due to Airbus having more efficient engines, and American’s spokespeople say that one company couldn’t handle the demands of the order.

But on a CBS interview by Rebecca Jarvis on the Early Show the other day, she asked if “recent labor problems at Boeing” were what caused AA to hedge its bets and split the deal.  The AA guy denied this, giving the reasons cited above, but in a different interview, the question was raised more explicitly (about the 1:38 mark), indicating that industry analysts suspect the union problems caused the airline to drop its exclusivity with Boeing.

In my considered opinion, this is the real problem.  The unions, and the Øbama administration’s NLRB, in order to keep union jobs in a non right to work state, have cut off their noses (heads?) to spite their faces, and lost half of an enormous contract with American Airlines.  In order to prevent non-union workers from getting a piece of the pie, they have exported jobs overseas, and lost half of the pie.  Now Airbus has a major foothold in the American market thanks to selfish union bullying tactics, and a complicit administration.

Now there’s genius for you.  Is it a “shovel ready job” when you are digging your own grave?

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Dimsdale

A TEA party partisan, guerrilla fighting in the trenches of liberal Massachusetts.

24 Comments

  1. essneff on July 28, 2011 at 11:29 pm

    Excellent post. Just look what the NLRB is doing to Boeing in SC…… Boeing could build the plant in India, but gets challenged?by the “regime” for trying to add 1,000 jobs in South Carolina….. think about the jobs lost in the gulf states as Obama destroys domestic oil exploration in favor of supporting?windmills and electric cars…… just pitiful!!?



  2. JollyRoger on July 28, 2011 at 11:33 pm

    Wow!? Competition from a French, unionized, and heavily government regulated manufacturer where workers probably toil 35 hours a week, drink beer for lunch, and close the factory for an entire month each summer…? I hope our poor union sloths can keep up!



    • SeeingRed on July 29, 2011 at 7:22 am

      …oh, don’t worry.? If recent UAW worker sting operations are any indication of what ‘they’ do at lunch,?be comforted?that your planes are built?with the same level of?detail and attention to crasftsmanship (not) as American cars….



  3. sammy22 on July 29, 2011 at 12:09 am

    How about the “possibility” that neither company could have? filled the order in the time frame that AA wanted?



    • Dimsdale on July 29, 2011 at 8:09 am

      As stated, that is the company line, and could be a contributory factor, but as noted, industry analysts think differently.? I would find it hard to look at the debacle with the NLRB and not want to hedge my bets.?
      Bottom line: America loses, Boeing loses, the workers lose, but Airbus gains.



  4. winnie888 on July 29, 2011 at 7:23 am

    We once had a family business that supplied after-market parts to the major airlines and repair houses.? Something that everyone seems to forget is that it isn’t just a large manufacturer (in this case Boeing) that has lost 50% of the pie.? Every single one of Boeing’s vendors that would have had to submit quotes to produce their part of this engine has lost out, too.? Whenever a major US company loses work to an overseas competitor, there is a massive trickle down that affects that company’s vendors, and the vendor’s vendors (for example, metals suppliers (forgings), welders, heat treaters, etc.).? This is a sad day for Boeing and Obama should not have stuck his nose into Boeing’s attempted move to a right to work state.?
    Is the US open for business?? Did this create any new jobs (one of his number one priorities)?? This man is incapable of thinking beyond the moment & his reelection.



  5. TomL on July 29, 2011 at 8:06 am

    Currently Boeing can produce 1 Dreamliner every 3 days which works out to 122 planes a year. Open up Charleston and that doubles. The machinist union contract in Seattle?expires in Sept. 2012 and is always contentious. The Charleston plant is non union because the people that work there decertified the union that represented them prior to Boeing buying the plant and expanding production. I’d say that union activity played a role.



  6. Lynn on July 29, 2011 at 8:27 am

    Dims, this is a fantastic post.? I can’t see this any other way, unions constantly cut off their noses to spite their faces and lose jobs for their workers.? Winnie, we are of kindred spirit here. If you are involved with small businesses in any way at all, you observe the trickle down effect. Small business do provide all the parts for the larger industries. When a large industry goes down it leaves a huge hole. Just look to Detroit for example.? It goes beyond even the businesses that makes parts, it’s the lunch restaurants, Mom & Pop gas stations, small groceries, etc. etc.? Mega unemployment. The Unions will finally feel the pain when they lose the dues from the employees, by then it is too late.



  7. GdavidH on July 29, 2011 at 10:30 am

    Dims says,”? In order to prevent non-union workers from getting a piece of the pie, they have exported jobs overseas”.

    Precisely!

    And the union loses nothing.?



  8. sammy22 on July 29, 2011 at 11:58 am

    Off the mark again: AA is buying 737 from Boeing and A320s from Airbus. The big deal w/ Seattle and Charleston is about the 787 Dreamliner.



    • GdavidH on July 29, 2011 at 2:02 pm

      That’s not what they are discussing. It’s not about different planes even if the fuel efficiency argument is the truth.
      The article states….
      “and American?s spokespeople say that one company couldn?t handle the demands of the order.?”
      Therefore….

      ?Sounds to me as if AA has no faith in Boeing because of manufacturing capacity.?



  9. Tim-in-Alabama on July 29, 2011 at 2:47 pm

    I’m glad Boeing lost out on the full contract. Through corrupt political shenanigans, Boeing stole the Air Force tanker contract from a consortium that would have built its tanker in Mobile, Ala., and now they’re already saying they’re going to be way over their bid before they’ve started building a single aircraft. Bumpy Barack Hussein O’Bama has taught us to demonize and hate our fellow Americans over every issue so I hate the greedy fat cats at Boeing and all the speculators who invest in the company. I wish a pox on them and accuse them of every nefarious behavior known to mankind. Ptooey!



  10. sammy22 on July 29, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    GdavidH, I made your point earlier, but Dims did not like it. Neither did TomL who inserted the 787, which is not in this transaction. And Dims shed tears about Airbus getting a foothold in the US market. Come on! Delta is loaded w/ Airbus planes.



    • GdavidH on July 29, 2011 at 6:51 pm

      And all this goes to my point. Boeing lost South Carolina…..Boeing loses 1/2 of a giant contract…..1/2 of a giant contract goes overseas……The union loses nothing.

      This, to me, is what it’s all about.
      Thank you NLRB!???
      ??



    • Dimsdale on July 30, 2011 at 10:35 pm

      It is not a matter of me liking it or not; it is the considered opinion of industry analysts, experts if you will.? AA had an exclusive contract with Boeing until this union debacle started.? Now they don’t.
      ?
      Good jobs at good wages.? In Europe.



  11. Lynn on July 31, 2011 at 7:51 am

    Dims, your post was perfectly clear for those who have good reading comprehension.



  12. sammy22 on July 31, 2011 at 12:27 pm

    AA stated its business reasons for the deal: efficient engines and neither company could fill the order on schedule. Instead one should believe an analyst’s opinion and go off on a rant about the Admin and the unions. Maybe one should be thankful that AA did not give all the order to Airbus.



    • Dimsdale on July 31, 2011 at 9:43 pm

      You must be right: the prospect of endless NLRB prosecutions and/or union actions could not possibly have entered their minds.? /sarc



  13. sammy22 on August 1, 2011 at 11:22 am

    So what if it did. Having to deal w/ the NLRB and the unions is part of doing business, right?



    • GdavidH on August 1, 2011 at 5:21 pm

      The question in this economy, with manufacturing and jobs going out of country is, should it be?

      Whose side are these people on?

      YYAAAAYYYY the union didn’t lose….No plant in S. Carolina……1000+ jobs gone…..Big contract overseas.

      Whose side are they on?? ???



    • Dimsdale on August 2, 2011 at 11:49 am

      So you admit that it could be an issue, precisely what the post was about. If the “cost of doing business” results in jobs being exported to Europe, isn’t the NLRB guilty of precisely what they accuse Republican of doing?

      Bottom line: are they fighting for jobs in the U.S., or Europe??? Or just union jobs, regardless of where?



  14. Lynn on August 2, 2011 at 7:32 am

    That’s what we all here are asking, Whose side are they on?



  15. sammy22 on August 2, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    ?I read and re-read the post. The last paragraph makes the point to bash the President and the NLRB, as if the determining issue for AA was the unions. That is not what AA stated, or course they lie.



    • Dimsdale on August 3, 2011 at 10:42 am

      While I will never hesitate to criticize our incompetent president, the point of the article you allegedly re-read was that a) industry analysts, experts in the airline industry, say that the government prosecution/persecution of Boeing is a significant factor in the decision by AA; b) AA has significant incentive to say that the unnecessary NLRB action had nothing to do with it as they are under the scrutiny/control of the same government entity prosecuting/persecuting Boeing.
      ?
      Seriously: what do you expect them to say?



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