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Thursday, March 18, 2004 Aging, in-flight, fuel tankers like the KC-135 pictured above need to be replaced, but plans to replace them with IAM member-made Boeing 767s are in danger because Bush administration officials want Airbus in the contract bidding process. Tanker Deal Could Go to Airbus The $27.6 billion deal to replace the military’s aging fleet of KC 135s with U.S.-made Boeing 767 aerial tankers could be scuttled despite a Pentagon investigation that found “no compelling reason” to scrap the deal. U.S. Air Force Secretary James Roche said on Wednesday he would consider allowing Airbus to bid on the tanker deal if Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld backed off the plan to lease 20 of the modified 767s and buy 80 more. “I would be delighted to do it,'' said Roche to reporters about allowing Airbus to bid for the huge military contract. The tanker deal represents a lifeline for Boeing workers on the 767 assembly line in Everett, WA. “The prospect of a major military contract going to a foreign-owned company while this country is fighting a war abroad and struggling to survive economically at home is almost beyond belief,” said IP Buffenbarger, who appeared on CNNs Lou Dobbs Tonight to discuss the issue. “The cost of a misstep here will be measured in lives as well as livelihoods.”
To send an "Action
Alert" message to your legislator, click on the following link: "Our members work hard and many have given a lifetime to this company. They deserve economic dignity in retirement," said IAM District 26 Chief Negotiator James Parent, who listed jobs, retirement benefits and health care as top priorities. “Our members are prepared to do what's necessary to win the contract they deserve," added Local 743 President Mark Hebert. The negotiations mark the first meeting this year between the IAM and a United Technologies Corporation (UTC) subsidiary. In December 2003, IAM members at UTC Fuel Cells ratified an agreement where the company forced changes to health insurance coverage for retirees. Workers at Hamilton and Pratt & Whitney Aircraft expect UTC to propose similar terms.
Indicating the
importance of these negotiations, Eastern Territory GVP Lynn Tucker,
Aerospace Coordinator Frank Santos and Grand Lodge Rep. William Rudis
attended the first day of negotiations. “These negotiations are about
jobs,” said GVP Tucker. “Not only for our members, but for Connecticut as
well.” Richard Foster, a nonpartisan Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) official claimed that HHS Administrator Thomas Scully repeatedly told him he would be fired if he provided lawmakers with accurate cost estimates of the proposed Medicare legislation. Foster said Scully directed him to “cease responding directly to Congress” and to forward all cost estimates directly to him. “Certainly, Congress did not have all the information they might have wanted, or that we had,” said Foster in a newspaper interview. Throughout the debate, GOP leaders claimed the bill would not cost more than $395 billion over ten years, a figure the White House did not dispute. Shortly after the bill was signed into law, the White House released Foster’s estimate of $534 billion.
The disclosure drew
blistering criticism from Democrats as well as Republicans, with Senate
Minority Leader Thomas Daschle calling for a new vote on the legislation
saying, “members of Congress were called to vote under false pretenses.” The so-called “Fairness in Asbestos Injury Resolution Act” (S. 1125), introduced by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT), is scheduled to come to the Senate floor by the end of March or the first week in April. As currently written, the bill would be a windfall for companies like Halliburton that knowingly exposed workers and the public to asbestos. “Any federal asbestos legislation must provide victims with fair and timely compensation,” said District 19 President Bob Reynolds, in a letter to Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) outlining major flaws in S. 1125. “There is no program set up to provide medical screening to workers who have been exposed to asbestos and are at high risk of developing disease. The workers’ compensation system for rail workers with asbestos disease is eliminated.”
A recent study
http://www.ewg.org/reports/asbestos/
by the Washington-based Environmental Working Group projects that more
than 100,000 people in the United States will die from asbestos-related
diseases over the next 10 years. Click
here to send an urgent
message to Senators urging them to oppose S. 1125 until all major flaws in
the bill are corrected. Following meetings with Indian officials, Colin Powell told reporters that outsourcing is “a reality of the 21st century,” and that the Bush administration would not try to stem the flow of high tech jobs to India. U.S. companies have already moved more than 200,000 high tech jobs to India, where computer programmers, accountants and medical technicians earn as little as $2000 to $7000 a year. Not unlike China, India’s economy is notoriously closed to outsiders. In 2003, the U.S. had an $8 billion trade deficit with India.
“Outsourcing is a
natural effect of the global economic system and the rise in the Internet
and broadband communications,” said Powell in response to a student who
asked if he supported outsourcing, all but blaming U.S. workers for
creating the technology that is now costing them their jobs. Officials for the Selective Service System confirmed that planning for a targeted registration and draft are underway, but that no formal request to activate compulsory military service has been received from Congress or the Pentagon.
According to Selective
Service spokesperson Richard Flahavan, planning for a draft of linguists
and computer experts began last fall after Pentagon officials bemoaned the
lack of soldiers with those skills. More than 13 million men and women,
age 18 to 25 are currently registered with the Selective Service. "It only took two minutes for everyone to vote,” said DL 74 Directing Business Representative Larry Young. “They're ready to start negotiations for a new contract.” The new members work on a helicopter program at Worldwide. Other IAM members at the company work on the F-14 program. “I'm happy to welcome our newest members,” said Southern Territory GVP Bob Martinez. “We continue to pick up new members as they see how important a strong IAM contract is. Congratulations to DBR Larry Young and District 74.” Past iMail|Your Email|Visit www.goiam.org|Print Version|Sign-Up for iMail
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The IAM is repeating its members-only photo contest again this year
and you are encouraged to enter. Photo entries should catch IAM members
at work in unposed photos. If your entry wins, you'll win a cash prize
and your photo will appear in the 2005 IAM Calendar. Go to:
pc2005.
President Bush's promise of new jobs is falling far short. Find out how much at www.jobwatch.org
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