Boeing HQ
Today’s key stories focus on the departure of a Boeing decision head and updates on the strike. Boeing head of Defense, Space, and Security, Ted Colbert, is the first major executive change of the Kelly Ortberg era. With continuing losses due to cost overruns on fixed price defense projects, following by the embarrassing Starliner stranding of astronauts on the International Space Station, it became clear that change was needed. The question now is whether a change at the top can turn the company’s losses into profitability for that business unit, or whether it will need to be spun out to raise cash to support the core commercial aircraft business.
In strike news, the walkout has the potential to be a longer, rather than shorter strike. Union members now have options during the “gig economy” to earn money during the strike in a tight labor market. The union and its employees have stated that they will remain out “as long as it takes” to achieve their goals. The engineering union SPEEA, which represents salaried employees, indicated that its group would not accept furloughs, as other salaried employees will be forced to take, in support of the IAM. That will further impact the company’s cash flow crisis.
The IAM demands include a restitution of the former defined benefit pension plan. An article indicates why the union is unlikely to achieve this goal. This will be interesting to watch as the negotiation continue. Finally, the strike is illustrating the difficulty Kelly Ortberg will have in resetting labor relations and changing the Boeing culture. After two decades of contentious labor relations, rebuilding trust will take time.
Links to today’s key news items follow:
- Boeing’s space and defense chief exits in new CEO’s first executive move – SCMP
- Strike by Boeing factory workers shows no signs of ending after first week – The Colombian
- Workers and businesses brace for further economic hardship from Boeing strike – NPR
- SPEEA union president: ‘We stand with machinists,’ ‘We don’t do furloughs’ – My Northwest
- Boeing union members are angry they lost their pension plan. They’re not likely to get it back – CNN
- Strike shows challenge to Boeing ‘reset’ of labor relations – Japan Today
