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Saturday, January 7, 2012

Republicans Betrayed by fellow Union Buster Boeing!! Hey, it’s only business.

Before we get to the betrayal, a quick summary of the partnership struck between the anti-union Republicans and union busting Boeing:
WaPo: Republican presidential candidates assailed Pres. Obama for bypassing the Senate to name three new members to the National Labor Relations Board. The board has been a fat target for Republican attacks since it accused Boeing in a lawsuit last year of retaliating against unionized workers in Washington state by opening a non-union manufacturing plant in right-to-work South Carolina. The case was dismissed last month after the union and Boeing reached a settlement, but the issue still resonates with Republican voters in the state.

But now, red state Kansas got the shaft:
Chicago Trib: With aerospace workers across the nation already braced for protracted cuts in Pentagon spending, Boeing Co. announced plans to close a historic facility in Wichita, Kansas … Boeing's Wednesday announcement "outraged" Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan.

"The fact that Boeing is now refusing to honor its commitment to the people of Kansas is greatly troubling to me and to thousands of Kansans who trusted that Boeing's promise would be kept," he said in a statement. "A company so much a part of the Wichita community for 80 years should not make this decision lightly."

Gee, and all that loyalty to corporate bosses wasted on Boeing. But it’s not because of Obama’s plans to streamline the military and save taxpayer dollars, we can also thank our tightwad Republican politicians.
But defense contractors have already begun to consolidate manufacturing facilities and eliminate thousands of aerospace jobs throughout the nation. Last January, Boeing said it was cutting 900 jobs at its sprawling Long Beach, Calif., plant, where it builds C-17 cargo jets. In June, Lockheed Martin Corp. announced that it was cutting about 1,500 positions across its aeronautics business. In August, Northrop Grumman Corp. said it was cutting 500 jobs in its aerospace division, which is spread throughout Southern California. "Companies are in the middle of adjusting to the new budget realities," said Fred Downey, a national security analyst.

Yet you just can’t help laughing a little at the Boeing betrayal of anti-union Republicans, despite the terrible jobs losses that effect so many families that have worked at Boeing for generations. Thanks to the last 40 years of Republican trickledown economics, America no longer has what our parents had; security, certainty and lifetime jobs.

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