[MMike]

I like Richard Branson's style.....

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/boeingaerospace/2008717282_hazy07.html

At an interview at the reception, Branson expressed anger at how much the Machinist strike cost V Australia, the new international unit of his Virgin Blue airline in Australia.

His passengers were left stranded because V Australia's new 777-300ER, parked Friday on Boeing Field, wasn't available for the peak holiday-travel season down under, Branson said.

"It was a horrible mess that Boeing was on strike. We messed up tens of thousands of passengers over Christmas," he said. "We had to buy tickets on other airlines and scramble to get seats which weren't available. The financial damage in an industry where the margins are minute is catastrophic."

Boeing contracts typically include a provision that it is not required to pay airlines compensation for delays due to strikes.

"We're already thinking there's another lot of planes we want to order. Do we give it to Boeing or should we go to Airbus, which doesn't go on strike?" Branson said. "We have a choice. Do we have to come back to Boeing? If there's a danger of ever having another strike, we won't."

At this point, Branson turned to Udvar-Hazy and said Udvar-Hazy had been making the same point at dinner last night.

"You can't deal with companies that are unreliable," Udvar-Hazy said.

At the suggestion that Boeing could hardly guarantee no future strikes, Branson said he would have to examine whether Boeing has "an unreliable management/work-force situation."

"Britain was plagued by strikes 30 years ago," added Branson, who is English. "America should have got over this by now."

 

[ohio]

Paging Samirol to the white discourtesy phone. Paging Samirol.

 

[$tinkle]

my butt still hurts from the last time i got "paged" on capitol hill

 

[Secret Squirrel]

I just saw a recent headline from the Seattle Times saying that Boing had lost 15 (or 18...) 787 orders in the past 3 weeks...


Whoops...


In a related matter, the first time I heard someone mention "the Virgin Megastore in NYC", I thought we'd all gone Muslim.

 

[MMike]

I just saw a recent headline from the Seattle Times saying that Boing had lost 15 (or 18...) 787 orders in the past 3 weeks...


Whoops...

More like 31 cancellations.......

 

[ohio]

More like 31 cancellations.......

Boy, with so many fewer orders I'm guessing they'll need less labor, huh?

 

[Samirol]

Hm, management punishes labor for unionizing and wanting to stop outsourcing, what a shock.

 

[Transcend]

So let's see... yet more workers are out of a job precisely because of behaviour undertaken by the precious unions.

Morons.

 

[MMike]

Companies are there to service the customer. If they stop doing that, they become irrelevant, no?

I'll never forget it this. I was in a meeting when I was working at Boeing. They were arguing about something, and one guy said, "Look. We're all here to build airplanes". The manager cut him off and said "No. We're here to make money".

A very important distinction.......

 

[$tinkle]

i think they're both right

as a business venture, blockbuster exists to offer movie & gaming alternatives to potential customers. they making money by keeping the customer base, not the other way around.

 

[Secret Squirrel]

More like 31 cancellations.......

That's right....it was 18 more on top of the original 15 from the first part of Jan.


good times...

 

[jonKranked]

Hm, management punishes labor for unionizing and wanting to stop outsourcing, what a shock.

no, when unions prevent a business from being profitable, its a major problem.

 

[Samirol]

no, when unions prevent a business from being profitable, its a major problem.

unions only go on strike after the business refuses to work with them, all they wanted was job security in the age of outsourcing, that isn't an insane demand.

 

[dante]

More like 31 cancellations.......

Hmmmm, wonder how much those 31 cancellations are costing Boeing compared to what the union was demanding? There's always two sides to an argument, and I wouldn't say that management is completely blameless...



On a less serious note, who exactly is Branson going to go to for airplanes, Airbus? Good luck with that, they're only what, a couple years behind on their a380?

 

[SkaredShtles]

unions only go on strike after the business refuses to work with them, all they wanted was job security in the age of outsourcing, that isn't an insane demand.

You really do live in a world apart from the rest of us, don't you?

 

[Samirol]

You really do live in a world apart from the rest of us, don't you?

give me an example of a spontaneous union strike that didn't go through negotiations first

 

[SkaredShtles]

How about unions going on strike after making RIDICULOUS demands that weren't met? Hmmm?

 

[Secret Squirrel]

I think the most amusing part is "after the business refuses to work with them"...

really?

No, really?

That's how it's gonna work, huh?

Talking about going on strike as a "negotiation tactic" is only a thinly veiled threat that hurts everyone. Awesome.

 

[ohio]

all they wanted was job security in the age of outsourcing, that isn't an insane demand.

It IS an insane demand, because you cannot DEMAND job security.

Extortion may get them a short term gain but make no mistake it is absolutely at the expense of long term job security.

edit: To make my point both specific and painfully obvious, is it lost on you that this move may prevent outsourcing but may also cause layoffs at the same time? Great, instead of moving those 1000 jobs to China and India, no one gets them.

 

[sanjuro]

"Britain was plagued by strikes 30 years ago," added Branson, who is English. "America should have got over this by now."

I remember the turmoil of the Thatcher era. I don't know much about it, but I wonder how it was resolved?

 

[Westy]

I remember the turmoil of the Thatcher era. I don't know much about it, but I wonder how it was resolved?

No more industry in the UK.

 

[jonKranked]

unions only go on strike after the business refuses to work with them, all they wanted was job security in the age of outsourcing, that isn't an insane demand.

What's insane is that union workers are demanding white collar compensation for blue collar jobs and blue collar skills.

 

[SkaredShtles]

No more industry in the UK.

They still make fine ales.

 

[Inclag]

unions only go on strike after the business refuses to work with them, all they wanted was job security in the age of outsourcing, that isn't an insane demand.

Do you believe it is wrong for a company to use laborers of equal skill and quality at a lower cost if there is a large market of laborers that work at lower salaries? And no, these cheaper workers aren't people in a Chinese sweatshop as a union would like you to believe.

 

[SkaredShtles]

Do you believe it is wrong for a company to use laborers of equal skill and quality at a lower cost if there is a large market of laborers that work at lower salaries? And no, these cheaper workers aren't people in a Chinese sweatshop as a union would like you to believe.

Dude. Seriously. He's like talking to a big, retarded brick wall.

 

[JohnE]

Sounds like Branson should have leveraged his $$ against Boeing AND the machinists...something along the lines of "You both want my money, now play nice and build my airplanes or neither one of you gets it..."

 

[MMike]

On a less serious note, who exactly is Branson going to go to for airplanes, Airbus? Good luck with that, they're only what, a couple years behind on their a380?

A380 has been type certified for a year. And how far behind do you think the 787 is going to be when all is said and done?

edit: roll out for the 787 was July 8 2007 (get it? 7-8-7?) Flight testes were supposed to begin shortly after that. They had way bigger problems than the strike. From an engineering standpoint, it was great because they we able catch up on some stuff because the planes weren't moving. But right now they are well over a year behind and they haven't flown yet. In my humble opinion, they are going to be more late than the A380 ended up being......

edit #2.... and Branson is right to be royally pissed. The dollar figures when calculating lost revenue when an airplane sits idle is just staggering. Like hundreds of thousands per day. When they plan around having an airplane, and it ain't there when it's supposed to be, means HUGE financial implications.