CEO: Strike may doom Boeing to automaker fate Posted on October 7th
SEATTLE - A Machinists union strike has hurt The Boeing
Co.’s reputation and threatens the nation’s aerospace industry with
a fate similar to that of automakers in Detroit, Chief Executive W.
James McNerney said Monday.
In a memorandum to all Boeing employees, McNerney noted that
leaders of the International Association of Machinists and
Aerospace Workers have recommended strikes four times and have shut
down Boeing’s commercial aircraft assembly plants three times with
walkouts in the past 13 years.
“While we’ve disappointed customers for other reasons in recent
years, too, we believe this track record of repeated union work
stoppages is earning us a reputation as an unreliable supplier to
our customers, who ultimately provide job security by buying our
airplanes,” McNerney said.
Mark Blondin, chief union negotiator, said in a statement that
the union “is not on strike to harm Boeing or its customers.”