Boeing and machinists spar on key demand

CHICAGO, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Boeing's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Jim McNerney said the U.S. airplane maker wouldn't bow to a key demand of striking machinists.

The five-week strike of 26,000 union machinists that has halted production at Boeing includes a demand the union be able to bid on more of the company's outsourced work.

In a lengthy e-mail message to employees Monday, McNerney said, "the ongoing turmoil in the financial markets provides a timely reminder of why it would be gravely unwise for Boeing to agree to terms in any contract that would fundamentally restrict our ability to manage our business," the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported.

McNerney's e-mail said automakers "all but fatally wounded themselves years ago by promising unsustainable wage and benefit levels and by agreeing to contract conditions (including job guarantees) that limited their flexibility to run their businesses in the face of intense global competition."

In direct contrast to McNerney's note, Mark Blondin, lead negotiator for International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, said the union is "has made it clear that protection of IAM jobs and the scope of the IAM work is critical to getting a ratified agreement."