Managers in Washington accused of hounding staff to keep quiet over quality concerns, as employees point to union-busting

Boeing’s largest factory is in “panic mode”, according to workers and union officials, with managers accused of hounding staff to keep quiet over quality concerns.

The US plane maker has been grappling with a safety crisis sparked by a cabin panel blowout during a flight in January, and intense scrutiny of its production line as regulators launched a string of investigations.

Its site at Everett, Washington – hailed as the world’s biggest manufacturing building – is at the heart of Boeing’s operation, responsible for building planes like the 747 and 767, and fixing the 787 Dreamliner.

  • motor_spirit@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    until companies aren’t incentivized by capitalist greed this will continue happening

    You’d think that it would be in the best interest of capitalism to keep everybody alive to maximize profits through the course of each victim’s life, but the shortsighted goal of lining a couple pockets and avoiding disruption was chosen. A predictably lazy approach… and why we will deal with asbestos, cigarettes, pesticide, pfas damages for years to come

    Would love to see some corporate heads roll, fuck these disgusting pieces of shit. I hope their business practices and families suffer for years to come! May the winds of climate change wipe out their children before them, in their lifetime.

  • BarqsHasBite@lemmy.ca
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    6 months ago

    One mechanic at the complex, who has worked for Boeing for more than three decades, has claimed it is “full of” faulty 787 jets that need fixing.

    Many of these jets are flown from Boeing’s site in South Carolina, where the company shifted final assembly of the 787 in 2021 in what was characterized as a cost-cutting measure.

  • Vanon@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    And at the other end of Boeing, they’re having extreme difficulty getting Starliner launched again (part 2: human boogaloo, endless problems, even while years behind SpaceX). It’s like they’re being sabotaged, only it’s probably just mismanagement, incompetence, and demoralization.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        You aren’t wrong. This short term thinking outsource everything way of doing things is very much part of the whole neoliberal bent.

    • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      You heard about the mission scrub weekend I take it. Absolute insanity how the company that went to the moon can’t put two people into LEO.

      • Vanon@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I happened to catch NASA on YouTube for a few hours that morning. There were a few problems, but they got through it. At about T-10 min, everyone seemed to feel this was the one, clear to launch. Even a few speeches ('MURICA!). I left for a minute and came back to the crew access arm being extended… It was difficult to watch them have to painstakingly evacuate the crew again instead of sending it to space.

      • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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        6 months ago

        Sounds like they could hire more well paid unionized labor to help with the backlog and make bank.

      • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Mainly because of Boeing. When Boeing had their 737MAX issues, Airbus’s books filled up with orders.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Sadly airbus is more backed up and they plus Boeing are the only two viable producers in the world unless you want to buy questionable planes from China.

      • Skua@kbin.earth
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        6 months ago

        Regardless of your thoughts on Comac, they just don’t produce anything that competes with anything bigger than an A320 / 737. The only company that does is Ilyushin, and they make roughly one per year

      • Pringles@lemm.ee
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        6 months ago

        They are trying to ramp up production, but that’s a very hard thing to do given the sheer amount of suppliers (over 1000) and the general labor shortage in aviation. They are actively sending their own engineers to suppliers to help out where possible, but there is only so much they can do.

        Even with ramped up production the backlog (8500+ planes) will take almost a decade to clear (735 planes produced in 2023). So yea, I could imagine some airlines with a strong cash position will simply buy other airlines just to take over their planes and orders instead of putting in a new order.

  • Kaput@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Union workers should be mandatory in the aviation industry. It make a huge difference when the time comes to tell a manager that a part will not be delivered on time.

  • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Move corporate back to Everett. The company I work for is far from perfect but I do see the CEO take a full walk across the facility every day.