Airbus proposals fly into a storm as workers walk out.

Times Online ^ | 1 March 2007 | David Robertson

[lowbuck]

Some more about the still unfolding "Power 8" plan. Enjoy.

[JRios1968]

More Airbust ping materials

[evad]

Couldn't stand the stress of a potential 40 hour work week.

I don't blame 'em..pure torture;-)

[roaddog727]

EADS tower, this is AIRBUST Zero One.

Flameout on Engines 1, 2 and 4.......

Mayday, Mayday, I'm goin' in.............

[vimto]

According to a local rag Wales is loosing 1500 jobs we can ill afford. But the French empoyment laws and militant socialism should make it a bigger issue over there. Thatcher taught the Welsh how to bow their heads in the wake of the inevitable.

[TC Rider]

Trade unions were unhappy with the restructuring and have threatened industrial action. German and French workers walked off the job yesterday in protest at the redundancies.

They'll need to take that up with the Department of Redundancies Department!

[Red6]

Actually, with some of the restructuring they are making the company more "profitable" in the long run.

Airbus and EADS were intended to artificially create a market presence in the aerospace sector my using state subsidies and protectionism. Former state holdings like DASA, the French turbine manufacturer etc were all merged into one giant pan-European aerospace giant. The idea was to gobble up as much market share as possible and then eventually ween the state out of the equation, although still have a lot of influence and control in the background. Hence they were selling their planes at rock bottom prices and hardly making a profit, especially since the firms structure, labor laws, etc. was high inefficient. However, their end was achieved. EADS is a giant today and Airbus will not go broke. The greater goal of establishing a foothold in the aerospace market has been accomplished although in direct violation of fair trade.

[GitmoSailor]

I'am going out today and buy some Boeing Stock!!!...

[Vicomte13]

Why are any planes built in Europe or America anymore?

Chinese labor is quickly trainable, and is far cheaper than either place. True efficiency is found by outsourcing all heavy manufacturing to China. The "China" price can't be beaten. Surely none will argue for the economic inefficiency of employing high cost European or American laborers who are fully replaceable by a Chinese at a quarter of the price.

Airbus needs to bite the bullet and export all manufacturing to China. Boeing will be unable to compete in those circumstances, and will soon do the same. Nationalistic concerns about employing AMERICAN or FRENCH workers are passe. A worker is a worker, just another cost of production. Business is about maximizing profit to shareholders. Nationalistic concerns about employment have no bearing on that. It is inefficient to employ Americans or Europeans. The China price is unbeatable. In the interest of shareholder returns, the quicker American and European assembly lines are shut down and transferred to China and India, the more efficient for the overall profits of the company. That's what counts in capitalism.

The French and Germans are so quaint, trying to use government power to protect FRENCH people and GERMAN people.
Airbus is caught in a government squeeze. To a lesser extent, fortunately for business, so are the Americans. Toyota builds cars in Ohio. But the same car could be built in Sichuan and imported to America for a third of the price, then sold at 30% off the retail American price. Nobody could compete with that!

It's time to shut down Western manufacturing and transfer it all to China. The workers there don't strike, they are trainable. They are not unionized. And there's no political ramifications of laying them off. The China Price is unbeatable. And the first company to fully realize that and GET OUT of America and Europe, will be the one that maximizes profit.

In a global capitalistic marketplace, economic nationalism and protection of domestic jobs is a chumps game that cuts into profits for investors. Capitalism is about maximizing profit. Spending more than you have to on a commodity, labor, is bad for profits, and that's dumb business.

[6ppc]

Shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic bump.

[MARKUSPRIME]

I think you are a damned fool. We cant and wont fully surrender our industrial base to communist china.

[6ppc]

They'll need to take that up with the Department of Redundancies Department!

Looks like they are all bozos on that Airbus!

[Bernard Marx]

Great satire. It cuts uncomfortably close to the truth which, of course, is what satire is all about. I'd like to laugh but I can't.

[Domicile of Doom]

Quality standards in Chinese manaufacturing are not to the exacting standards they need to be to manufacture Airframes. Given time they will be, but even then it will be some time before travelers, air carriers, and insurance companies grow accustomed to the idea that Chinese labor and engineering can produce reliable airframes.

I would also say that by that time (20 or 30 years) Chinese prices will have found equillibrium with western pricing for like products. IOW Chinese labor and manufacturing will enjoy a higher wage and standard of living.

[azhenfud]

"French and German workers...the high costs of its inefficient structure."

article - nutshell

[azhenfud]

Why don't we just lend them a few (thousand) illegal aliens?

It'll help us both out.

[VaBthang4]

???

I do not get it.

So many gloating over this news.

Airbus is taking the big hit, reorganizing and will finally be run in a sane manner.

In reality, this is good news for AirBus and bad news for Boeing.

I'd have much rather that these changes were never made.

Maybe it is me...

[GoldCountryRedneck]

You forgot the /sarcasm tag.........

That WAS sarcasm....wasn't it???

[VaBthang4]

"Shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic"

I do not think so.

[roaddog727]

It's not so much a commentary on Airbus itself as it is a commentary on business operating by the rules of socialist leaning countries.

If Airbus makes a better airframe in a more efficient and cost effective manner than Boeing, I'm all for it, 'cuz that will then force Boeing to become more efficient to compete against Airbus.

But what's going on now is all the entitled workers getting miffed because hard economic decisions are made in those countries.

This kind of stuff happens here all the time with now walkouts/strikes.