Wichita Machinists Rally for Aerospace Jobs

IAM members in Wichita, KS, held a rally to support their negotiators and to oppose additional outsourcing of work to Mexico

Thu. June 17, 2010

Gathered in the heat outside the hotel where negotiations are taking place between District 70 and Spirit AeroSystems, workers and their families carried ‘Jobs Worth Fighting For’ signs and cheered as union leaders praised Spirit as the only aerospace company in Wichita, KS, that has refused to outsource work to Mexico.

Bombardier and Cessna have both outsourced work from Wichita to Mexico, while Hawker Beechcraft has closed its Salina plant and recently notified the union it intends to outsource more work.

Machinists Call For Airline Re-regulation

Transportation GVP Robert Roach, Jr. testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and called for re-regulation of the airline industry.

Thu. June 17, 2010

“It is clear that airline deregulation has failed to deliver on its promises of a stable and profitable industry,” said Roach. “Airline business plans today focus on lowering standards, eliminating services and reducing ticket prices to the bone to put competitors out of business, making a profitable industry impossible.”

Roach cited Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimates that median ticket prices have dropped nearly 40 percent since 1980, while the costs of aircraft, airport leases and fuel have increased dramatically.

“Some industries are too critical to the United States to be allowed to regulate themselves,” said Roach. “The airline industry drives $1.4 trillion in economic activity and contributes $692 billion per year to the Gross Domestic Product. It is too vital to the nation’s commerce to be ignored, taken for granted or left to its own destructive ways.”