Machinists To Fight Boeing Over China Plant

The head of Boeing's largest union has pledged to fight for jobs threatened by a proposed factory in China, stepping up a confrontation over the plant as China's president visited the Seattle area.

The president of the local machinists union met company representatives after Boeing chief executive Dennis Muilenburg said the company planned to move work on its 737 aircraft to China, but added that there would be no related jobs lost in the United States.

Boeing says China will need USD$1 trillion worth of new planes over the next two decades and analysts say a China plant deal would help the company win aircraft orders.

Jon Holden, president of the International Association of Machinists District 751, however, said any job moved out of Washington state, where most Boeing planes are built, would be a loss for American workers.

"It's a tough pill to swallow to see our jobs being used as bargaining chips to win orders when we gave up so much for supposed job security," Holden said. The union represents about 35,000 Boeing workers.

"This is not simply about China," he said. "The company is creating capacity and capability outside the Puget Sound region. Those are our jobs."

Holden said Boeing told him on Tuesday that the China facility would finish and paint 737s built at its Renton, Washington, factory.

Last year, Boeing and the Washington aerospace industry won USD$8.7 billion in tax incentives for locating work in the state. As part of the agreement, the machinists approved a contract extension that ended their pension contributions. The agreements had no numeric targets for jobs and the union is trying to get state lawmakers to attach targets to the incentives.

"We'll do everything we can legally and legislatively to protect our jobs," Holden added.

Boeing and Airbus each supply about half of the aircraft fleet operating in China. Airbus's share has risen from 6 percent 20 years ago, an increase that analysts said was largely due to the plant it set up there in 2008 and which currently builds A320s.

Machinist leader Holden said workers planned to hold Boeing to its commitments to keeping work in the Seattle area in exchange for union agreements and tax incentives.

In China, executives at Hongrun Construction and Zhejiang Reclaim Construction said they were aware of the Boeing project, but said it still needed Chinese government approval.