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The workers voted 51 percent to 49 percent in favor, responding to pressures from top union officials and Washington State lawmakers, who warned that Boeing might place 777X production elsewhere, potentially costing Washington more than 10,000 jobs.

SEATTLE/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Boeing's machinists on Friday narrowly approved a crucial labor contract that secured thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity for Washington state but will cost workers their pensions. The vote of 51 percent to 49 percent to accept the deal means Boeing Co will build its new 777X jetliner and wings in the Seattle area, where Boeing has built aircraft for more than 90 years. Had the workers rejected the offer, Boeing would have considered making the successor to its popular 777 widebody jet elsewhere, and had received offers from 22 states interested...

Some 31,000 Boeing machinists vote on Friday on a crucial labor contract that affects the location of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of economic activity. If the workers accept the deal, Boeing Co. would build its new 777X jetliner and wings in the Seattle area, where Boeing has built aircraft for more than 90 years. If they reject it, Boeing says it will make the wings and possibly the whole plane, elsewhere, marking a major employment and economic loss for Washington state. Boeing says it has received offers from 22 states interested in hosting a new factory to...

As the Big Apple’s tax base shrinks, its municipal costs skyrocket, increasing the urgency that it get its financial house in order. So I’ll make a bold prediction: New Yorkers may someday regret electing a man who says he does not believe in the free market system. “Everything you heard about me is true…I am not a free-marketeer…I believe in the heavy hand of government,” Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio recently told a meeting of major real estate developers. (snip) Amazingly, this erstwhile reader of Barricade magazine isn’t the most radical city politician lately to sweep into power. Meet Kshama Sawant,...

Inside a cavernous assembly line in El Segundo, Northrop Grumman employees build the center aft fuselage and vertical tail — everything behind the pilot except the wings — for the F/A-18 Super Hornet. Roughly 900 local Northrop employees help build this plane, the Navy’s workhorse fighter jet that has seen action in such theaters as Iraq and Afghanistan. To date, Northrop and prime contractor Boeing have delivered more than 2,100 planes, including earlier versions and an electronic warfare variant. However, those Northrop employees and thousands more throughout California and nationwide face the prospect of an end to the Super Hornet...

MOSCOW, December 23 (RAPSI, Ingrid Burke) - A US federal court on Wednesday granted in part and denied in part a motion by American aerospace and defense conglomerate Boeing to dismiss counterclaims filed by Russian space giant Energia in its $355 million lawsuit, according to court documents obtained by RAPSI. In February, plaintiffs The Boeing Company (Boeing) and Boeing Commercial Space Company (BCSC) filed a complaint against Energia and Ukrainian company Yuzhnoye SDO alleging breach of contract in connection with with the 1995 establishment of Sea Launch, a joint venture created to facilitate the sea-based launch of commercial satellites. Boeing...

(Reuters) - Dilma Rousseff was thoroughly charmed. Brazil had been struggling for years to decide which company to choose for a $4 billion-plus fighter jet contract, one of the world's most sought-after defense deals and one that would help define the country's strategic alliances for decades to come. But Rousseff, the leftist president known for being sometimes gruff and even standoffish with foreign leaders, was thrilled after a 90-minute meeting in Brasilia on May 31 with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden. After Biden's reassurances that the United States would not block crucial transfers of technological know-how to Brazil if it...

It’s a compelling story: Brazil gets mad at the US for the NSA spying revelations, and snubs Boeing BA -0.46% for its long-awaited FX-2 fighter buy. Sweden gets $4.5 billion in business, and the U.S. pays a big economic price for eavesdropping on a neighbor. Countless articles have cited the NSA as the biggest factor, or at least a very big contributing factor, in Brazil’s decision. Yet sometimes, a fighter procurement decision is just a fighter procurement decision. There’s a chance the NSA scandal played a role in Brazil’s decision. But it’s just as likely that this decision was an...

(Reuters) - Brazil on Wednesday is expected to announce it chose Sweden's Saab (SAABb.ST) to supply its Air Force with a new generation of fighter jets, according to a Brazilian government source. Brazilian media on Wednesday also reported that Saab had emerged the victor for the long-pending contract, negotiated over the course of a decade and involving three consecutive Brazilian presidencies. The government source told Reuters that the contract was awarded after Brazil decided that Saab provided the most affordable option for the new jets as well as the best conditions for technology transfer to the South American country. Brazil...

If the Machinists union and Boeing could agree to a contract deal, Washington state would secure decades of work fabricating the 777X airliner’s advanced wing and assembling the jet here. Yet the union is divided and in turmoil over what the company calls its best and final offer. Two distinct, passionate arguments boiled up among the 31,000 local Machinists after their leaders Thursday rejected the revised offer. One vocal faction, including the local leadership, is dug in, unwilling to give up its hard-won gains from the past by making concessions on pay and benefits. Another group, including officials from the...

Boeing will nearly triple its footprint near Charleston International Airport with the acquisition of even more land than expected in a $49 million deal announced Friday. The land purchase comes one day after the Chicago-based aerospace giant announced hundreds of new research jobs for the Charleston area. Analysts believe the land deal paves the way for Boeing to eventually move all 787 production to North Charleston. Boeing declined to comment on the speculation. "This expansion makes future growth in North Charleston possible," said Jack Jones, vice president and general manager of Boeing South Carolina. "While we expect to begin the...

After talks broke down between Boeing and the Machinists union over placing the 777X work in Washington state, the union’s lead negotiator said the membership will get a chance to decide on what the company had said was its last offer.Washington’s bid to place work on the 777X jet in the state may not be dead yet, despite the abrupt collapse Thursday afternoon of negotiations between Boeing management and the Machinists union. In a phone interview late Thursday, the Machinists union’s lead negotiator said rank-and-file membership will get a chance to decide on the Boeing offer that the union leadership...

Within the last few minutes, local news is reporting that Aircraft Machinists Union 751 has offered a new proposal to Boeing, one would guess to try to convince Boeing not to move the manufacture of the 777-X out of state. I will post details if/when they become available.

Boeing and Saab AB have signed a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) to offer a solution for the US Air Force's (USAF) T-X trainer requirement, the companies announced on 6 December. Boeing will lead the effort to develop and build a replacement platform for the USAF's aging fleet of Northrop T-38C Talon aircraft, with Saab acting as the primary partner. "We will invest in development of this completely new aircraft design over the coming years," Saab President and CEO Håkan Buskhe said in a statement. As noted by Bushkhe, and reiterated to IHS Jane's by a Saab spokesperson, the new aircraft...

777 plant in Greensboro?

This is the terrifying moment a plane almost landed sideways as ferocious winds hit the UK yesterday (Thurs). Passengers told how they watched the drama unfold on the TV screens on the plane. Some started vomiting as the pilot struggled to control the 777.

Boeing has issued a formal request for proposals (RFP) to 15 locations around the United States that will bid for the work of building its forthcoming 777X jet, according to a source close to the discussions. Washington state is one of the 15 sites under consideration. The others include both existing Boeing locations and new “greenfield” sites, the source said. Boeing spokesman Doug Alder confirmed Saturday that the RFPs were sent out late Friday afternoon and into the evening.

Seattle’s newly elected Socialist councilwoman accused aerospace and defense giant Boeing on Monday of “economic terrorism” and told Boeing machinists they should consider taking “over the factories.” “The workers should take over the factories, and shut down Boeing’s profit-making machine,” Kshama Sawant told a group of activists in the city’s Westlake Park. Sawant’s comments were made at a rally organized by machinists after they rejected a deal that would reduce pensions for union members in return for guaranteed jobs in Everett, Wash., building 777X Boeing airliners for eight years. Now Boeing is considering taking those jobs elsewhere. “That will be...

Here’s the inevitable follow-up on the election of a Socialist to the Seattle City Council — although perhaps sooner than anyone would have thought. Boeing has tried working for years with its unions in the state of Washington, but still cannot reach agreements on labor contracts for its manufacturing facilities. The aerospace giant has looked for other regions in the US to build its planes, which has angered the unions and the Obama administration. It’s also provided an opportunity for Seattle’s newest councilmember to launch her anti-capitalist agenda, and she’s wasted no time in doing so … even before officially...

A Boeing Dreamlifter cargo jet, with a cargo hold among the largest by volume, accidentally landed at the wrong airport in Kansas Wednesday night, and was unable to take off due to the short runway. According to KWCH News, this type of plane requires 9,200 feet to take off whereas the runway at the airport is only 6,101 feet.