Posted on 10/17/2012 8:37:59 AM PDT by KeyLargo
Posted on Sat, Oct. 06, 2012
Machinists vote to strike at Bombardier Learjet By Molly McMillin The Wichita Eagle
Bombardier Learjet’s hourly workforce will walk off the job Monday after Machinists union members rejected the company’s contract offer and voted to strike.
Union members voted Saturday 79 percent in favor of rejecting the company’s proposal of a five-year contract, which offered significant increases in health care costs and low general wage increases, and 79 percent in favor of a strike.
Strikers will begin walking the picket line at 12:01 a.m. Monday, when the current three-year contract expires.
The company said in a statement it will work toward minimizing disruption to its production lines, its customers and the community. Neither side would predict when negotiations might resume.
The union, Local Lodge 639, represents about 825 hourly workers at the Learjet plant in west Wichita.
It’s the second strike in the plant’s history. The first was in 2006, when the Machinists struck for three weeks.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansas.com ...
"My attitude is, if you got a corporate jet, you can probably afford to pay full freight, not get a special break for it," he said, discussing ways to reduce the federal deficit."
"You'll still be able to ride on your corporate jet. You're just going to have to pay a little more," Obama said.
Yet, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers are big donors to Obama.
Machinists Union Endorses President Obama for Second Term
Fri. February 24, 2012
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Washington, D.C., February 24, 2012 - In a unanimous vote, the Machinists Non-Partisan Political League (MNPL) endorsed the reelection of President Barack Obama.
“Jobs are the central issue of this campaign, and only President Obama has a plan that would put millions of Americans and thousands of Machinists back to work,” said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “We’re convinced the job growth we're now seeing, particularly in the critical manufacturing sector, is a direct result of President Obama's policies and leadership and we want that growth to continue.”
The endorsement follows a recommendation from members of the union’s National Planning Committee, the governing body of the Machinists Non-Partisan Political League (MNPL). Formed in 1947, the MNPL evaluates candidates for IAM members and makes recommendations at the state and national level.
“Our policy differences with the White House in the past have dealt with the pace and speed of this recovery. IAM members recognize that GOP presidential candidates and Republican Congressional leaders have placed obstacle after obstacle in President Obama’s path. We intend to work overtime to remove those obstacles,” promised Buffenbarger.
With nearly 700,000 members, the IAM is among the nation’s most politically active labor unions and the endorsement sets the stage for significant volunteer activity by IAM members on behalf of President Obama. Visit www.goiam.org for more information.
IAM Plans For Prolonged Strike At Bombardier Learjet
By Kerry Lynch kerry_lynch@aviationweek.com
Source: AWIN First
October 16, 2012
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is preparing for a prolonged strike at Bombardier’s Learjet facility in Wichita, approving increased benefits beginning on the third week of the walkout.
http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/awx_10_16_2012_p0-507519.xml#
In other news, Bombardier Learjet Guangzhou has announced it is breaking ground on its new 1 million square foot assembly plant. :)
That sounds like a real good idear. Maybe they’ll strike their way right out of a job. I’m sure North Carolina would welcome another plane manufacturing facility. Then they’ll be able to join the millions of other Americans in the unemployment line thereby ratcheting up the unemployment rate. Woo Hoo! Yup, good idear!
Helping keep mankind warm for 65 years.
FIRE the Whole bunch, you could fill those machinist jobs in 2 weeks time. Thousands of Non-Union machinists are unemployed across this country thanks to the Policies put forth by Both Parties for the last 30 years. These Union members fully support Obama and Obamacare, ELIMINATE ALL EMPLOYER PAID or SUBSIDIZED HEALTH COVERAGE.
Bombardier Learjet plan should be:
1. hire replacements
2. keep up production.
I would guess that real machinists are not that easy to find. Maybe with all the computers, they don’t need real machinists, though.
What are their wages? I’m curious because there are recruiters who have shown up at our sons’ school looking for certain skill sets among high school students. They cannot find these skill sets among the junior college/tech school students, so they have dropped down to high schools. They are looking for machinists.
The term “machinist” is used very loosely here. They are aircraft mechanics, assemblers, and fitters. They can be replaced in hours should the company desire, and could have full production return within a week.
The gotcha is the sabotage left by the striking workers. I.A.M. always does this when striking.
There is discussion on this forum:
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/manufacturing-america-europe/cnc-machinists-high-demand-243444/
“79 percent in favor of rejecting the company’s proposal of a five-year contract, which offered significant increases in health care costs and low general wage increases, and 79 percent in favor of a strike.”
I’d wager that the Union leadership supports Obama, yet are to stupid to realize that his policies are depressing wages and increasing health care costs. They most likely support Obama, but are now proving that they do not approve of his policies....
They get the added benefit of blaming the evil corporation for making such a terrible contract offer!
Bombardier does finishing on the Learjets at their Toronto plant which also does assembly of the Q series turboprops. Their Montréal facility is huge and they assemble the Challenger and CRJs there. Given the current economic climate, they could probably offload most of their Wichita work without much trouble.
A couple of years ago, during the Boeing strike over the move to South Carolina, Boeing ran a test flight on a new plane and had to cut the flight short and return to Boeing field. The problem turned out to be metal shavings, left in the fuel tank, blocking the fuel line.
No good machinist ( and they are machinists that work on the prototypes) would leave metal shavings in a fuel tank.
What is it with the machinists union? Are they still flush with success from their strike against Eastern Airlines? I guess they showed them!
It appears that Obama bought off the IMA Union president Buffenbarger.
Posted on Wed, Sep. 26, 2012
International Machinists president to speak at Wichita Aero Club
By Molly McMillin
The Wichita Eagle
Tom Buffenbarger, the international president for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, is the keynote speaker at Thursday’s Wichita Aero Club meeting.
“He invited President Obama to visit Wichita to see the importance of the city’s aviation industry after Obama blasted the use of business jets and their owners, calling them “fat cats.”
Four years ago, Buffenbarger, a staunch supporter of Hillary Clinton, became a YouTube hit when he blasted the then-Sen. Obama.
“Hope. Change. Yes we can. Give me a break,” Buffenbarger said during a speech in 2008. “I’ve got news for all the latte-drinking, Prius-driving, Birkenstock-wearing, trust-fund babies crowding in to hear him speak. This guy won’t last a round against the Republican attack machine. He’s a poet, not a fighter.”
The Machinists union now formally supports Obama for re-election.”
Read more here: http://www.kansas.com/2012/09/26/v-print/2505496/international-machinists-president.html#storylink=cpy
North Carolina Machinist Calls for President Obama to be Replaced As Democratic Nominee
August 29, 2012 • 1:52PM
Tuesday, Gregory Lance, Machinist Union official in Charlotte, North Carolina, released the following statement:
“I am calling upon the Democratic Party to immediately replace President Barack Obama as the Democratic nominee for President. There are numbers of other officials, both elected, in the Democratic Party, and from the ranks of Organized Labor, who could fulfill the duties of President far better than Barack Obama. I am calling upon the Party to nominate a team that would campaign for the real needs of organized labor, city and state governments, and the U.S. military and intelligence services, which have been totally dismissed by Mr. Obama.
“Mr. Obama has compiled a record that underscores the need to immediately find a replacement. His health care reform plan, which has rightly earned the ire of the American public, is a brutal assault on Medicare and the need to provide medical services, and will increase the death rate among seniors and the whole population. Likewise, the candidate who was going to immediately close Guantanamo and now has banking lobbyists in the White House, instead championed the dictatorial National Defense Authorization Act, the renewal of the Patriot Act and other nefarious bills. The NDAA provisions would open our jails to American citizens who could be indefinitely detained, under mere suspicion of some ‘terrorist’ association. Obama’s shutdown of the manned space program is not only impeachable, but represents a total reversal of the Kennedy space policy which brought out the best in our citizenry. After the inspiring landing of Curiosity, even the Mars program is going to be sacrificed at the altar of fiscal austerity. For the skilled labor movement, which I represent, we need programs that would move us to ever higher technologies, and higher skill levels. Nothing addresses that need like the space program.
http://larouchepac.com/node/23765
Not All Union Bosses Support Obama’s Job-Killing War On Coal: UMWA Refuses To Endorse Obama’s Campaign
August 20th 2012
It’s no secret that Barack Obama has declared war on the coal industry and the jobs it maintains. He declared war back in 2008. However, back then, very few were actually listening.
Then, back in April, Cecil Roberts, the President of the United Mine Workers of America, had a stunning revelation: Barack Obama would like to do to coal miners’ jobs what the President had the Navy Seals do to Osama Bin Laden—kill ‘em dead.
Now, the Obama Administration’s war on coal is costing Candidate Obama an important union endorsement–that of Roberts’ UMWA.
If and when Obama is re elected he will throw the trade unions under the Obama bus if their agendas conflict with Obama’s green jobs agenda.
Union Bosses Keeping [Mostly] Low Profiles At DNC’s Union-Free Convention
By: LaborUnionReport (Diary) | September 3rd, 2012 at
Union bosses have made such a big deal about being upset with the DNC’s pick of Charlotte, North Carolina for its convention (even going so far as having an August ’shadow convention‘) that, while they may be in the state for the Barack Obama nomination celebration, they’re making every effort to make it look like they’re absent.
Adding insult to injury, not only is North Carolina the least unionized state in the nation, the stadium where Barack Obama is giving his acceptance speech was built by entirely union-free labor.
The lack of union support (and money) at the convention is likely why the DNC is giving away free tickets to people from neighboring states to go and watch Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday.
Although about a dozen of the building trade unions, along with Machinists’ union boss Tom Buffenbarger (of course), are boycotting (and some plan to protest) the Democrats’ soiree, other union bosses are attending the convention. However, they are taking fewer members and a much lower profile than past conventions.
How about this - hire a replacement workforce at the same pay and benefits last offered the union and immediately initiate a strong union avoidance education program with your management and workers. Then, after one year, commence a decertification election campaign with the objective of eliminating the IAM from the picture. It would also be wise to start up a machinist apprenticeship program to home grow skilled workers rather than hiring them from outside where they are virtually all union members.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.