Randy's Journal: Archives

02 September 2005

Nobody wins

Two things are certain at times like this. First, we greatly disappoint our customers. And second, we strengthen our competitors.

We've been through three previous strikes by machinists in my 31 years at Boeing. The most recent one was 10 years ago, and lasted about two months.

Eventually, we patch things up, and in the end we're still the greatest manufacturer of commercial airplanes in the world. But I find myself wondering how long it will take for the employees to recover. You never really get whole after a long strike.

There are a lot of issues involved. Some say it has to do with pensions. Some say wages, or health insurance. But the bottom line is, these are great jobs with great pay and benefits. At the end of the contract the average machinist would be making $62,500, plus receiving the best retirement package in the industry.

So, what's next? Ultimately, as I said, these things are resolved. It's just unfortunate that this is happening at a time when, for the first time that we've had a strike, Boeing is not the market leader in deliveries. In fact, Airbus has delivered more airplanes than Boeing the last two years, and will again this year.

This is a struggle. We've been working hard to regain the lead. We can hope this is only a temporary setback.

The fact is, we have Airbus on the ropes. We have a better product line. We're having great success in the marketplace. And now we have a strike. Which does nothing but really let down our customers.

I can't imagine anything the competition would like more than this.