Boeing's goings...

[Malcolm]

FAA vows to hold Boeing accountable, revamp agency safety program

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The head of the Federal Aviation Administration will tell Congress on Tuesday the agency will hold Boeing accountable to ensure the planemaker is building safe airplanes and will revamp its own safety management program.

"As a result of systemic production quality issues, Boeing must make significant changes to transform its quality system and ensure the right layers of safety are in place," FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker will tell a U.S. House aviation subcommittee. "I am prepared to use the full range of my authority to ensure accountability whether from a manufacturer, an air carrier, or the FAA’s own operations."

[W5]

Is Boeing’s BAFO really it? IAM rejects it and says no vote (Update)

https://leehamnews.com/2024/09/23/is-boeings-bafo-really-it-it-may-not-do-the-trick/

Sept. 23, 2024, © Leeham News: Boeing’s Best and Final Offer (BAFO) today to its striking IAM 751 union membership for a new contract is a risky gamble.

The offer bypassed the local’s negotiating team and appealed directly to the membership. 751 leadership already filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board for alleged violations of collective bargaining laws for the same reason during the original contract negotiations.

Boeing risks a new complaint over its latest move, which almost certainly angered Jon Holden, president of 751, and the negotiating team. No comment has been forthcoming from Holden or 751, but the president of the “parent” IAM issued to following statement, ABC TV News reported yesterday:

“Employees knew Boeing executives could do better, and this shows the workers were right all along. The proposal will be analyzed to see if it’s up to the task of helping workers gain adequate ground on prior sacrifices,” said Bill Bryant, president of IAM International.

The absence of a comment from 751 doesn’t mean others aren’t. Two retired Boeing IAM members told LNA the BAFO is acceptable and said union members should approve it. However, social media commentary takes a decidedly different view.

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Update: The IAM 751 just posted a response to its Twitter (X) account, here. It’s a scathing reply.  In part, the union leadership said, “THIS IS A NON-NEGOTIATED OFFER from Boeing. Your Negotiating Committee did not have any discussion or input on this offer. We have said all along that the Union would be available for direct talks with Boeing or, at a minimum, expected to continue mediated discussions when the company was ready. These direct dealing tactics are a huge mistake, damage the negotiation process, and attempt to go around and bypass your Union negotiating committee.” (Emphasis is the union’s.)

There will be no vote Friday, the union says.

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One post on Reddit mocks Boeing’s “Best and Final Bingo” offer. There are claims of “astroturfing,” ie posts that purport to be from IAM members but which are believed to be ghosts for Boeing. There’s no proof, but one former IAM member said that during the contentious 2013/2014 vote for concessions in exchange for the 777X assembly in Everett astroturfing was traced to Boeing.

Other posts make it clear that there is resentment over Boeing’s releasing the BAFO to the media before the members received it. And generally, there remains a belief that Boeing can do more.

 

Staging a vote is questionable

Boeing made its BAFO contingent upon an approving union vote by midnight Friday. It’s not even clear that Holden must stage a vote since the BAFO didn’t come through the negotiating committee. If there is a vote, the posts on Reddit suggest that approval is far from certain. Union comments on today’s earlier post also are overwhelmingly negative.

On the striking picket lines, reaction was mixed, according to a local news outlet. The Seattle Times’ picket line reporting doesn’t bode well for Boeing.

[deicer]

https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/25/business/boeing-faa-report-workers-pressure-hnk-intl/index.html

Boeing workers pressured to put speed over quality, FAA says

Boeing factory workers felt pressured to prioritize production speed over quality and said they did not receive enough training to properly perform their jobs, according to the results of a special investigation by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) published Wednesday.

The never-before-disclosed results of a six-week-long FAA special audit are likely to pile more pressure on a company already facing a slew of problems, including questions about the safety of its planes and an ongoing strike by 33,000 union workers, its first in 16 years.

In January, a door plug blew off a 737 Max operated by Alaska Airlines shortly after takeoff. Although no one was killed or seriously injured, the incident has sparked numerous federal investigations, one of which revealed the plane had left a Boeing factory without the four bolts needed to hold the door plug in place.

Wednesday’s report was made public by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, which is due to hold a hearing expected to feature testimony by FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker.

The “findings reveal the extent of troubling production problems, including Boeing’s struggle to adequately train and equip manufacturing personnel, thoroughly document and control nonconforming parts, and conduct adequate quality inspections,” said the report, which was released to the subcommittee’s members as a memo.

Whitaker previously testified in June that the FAA took a “too-hands-off” approach to regulating the aviation giant. The new report doesn’t spare the FAA, highlighting its own role in Boeing’s failures.

“These findings demonstrate an ongoing and persistent struggle by the FAA to ensure that Boeing is maintaining the highest safety standards across its manufacturing facilities,” it added. “The newly released information raises questions about the effectiveness of the FAA’s oversight of the company.”

The report documented instances of safety lapses and shortcuts routinely taken by Boeing employees. One of the more egregious examples, according to the audit, was a Boeing mechanic who used an improvised measuring device to check gaps between components.

“This tool is mechanic made, unauthorized, uncalibrated, unmarked, not inventoried or stored,” the report said. “The mechanic has admitted to using this tool for at least three years. When asked how other door mechanics take this measurement, he stated they all do the same.”

The report also highlights an “absence of process control for scrap articles,” an issue raised by a whistleblower in a CNN report earlier this year.

During testimony in front of the House Aviation Subcommittee on Tuesday, Whitaker said the FAA has flooded Boeing’s Renton, Washington 737 plant with its own inspectors, tasking them with individually blessing each new plane that rolls off the factory floor.

Whitaker told members of the House that Boeing has made strides in tackling unresolved jobs that “travel” on new airplanes as they move down the production line. But there is still much work to be done on fixing Boeing’s safety culture, he said.

“I think the safety culture change is going to be a long-term project,” Whitaker said. “I think it’s going to take years of delivering that safety message and the employees actually seeing that safety is more important than production before that culture to change.”

[Seeker]

On 9/23/2024 at 9:04 PM, Specs said:

Get your Airbus orders in now!

Not so quick. 

Boeing goes bankrupt, all existing shareholders are wiped out, suppliers and employees take a massive haircut, all debt wiped out, a consortium of investment banks take ownership and proceed to undercut Airbus because they have greatly reduced their costs and have no debt.  Pretty much the same formula that has been followed for the last 100 years in the US.

[Specs]

3 hours ago, Seeker said:

Not so quick. 

Boeing goes bankrupt, all existing shareholders are wiped out, suppliers and employees take a massive haircut, all debt wiped out, a consortium of investment banks take ownership and proceed to undercut Airbus because they have greatly reduced their costs and have no debt.  Pretty much the same formula that has been followed for the last 100 years in the US.

Damn.  You're right.  I remember the US carriers used pretty much that same process to destroy the employee pensions.  When they play that dirty it makes one question if what you suggest is entirely plausible.  They could also wipe their hands clean of anything that's transpired in the last few years.  All those late delivery penalties - gone!  That's massive.

Edited Wednesday at 04:28 PM by Specs