Published: March 12, 2008 11:33 am            

Air Force: Give US workers a chance

The union movement made a dramatic difference in the lives of many Latino American families. Fair-wage union jobs have given this population a chance to achieve economic success and equal status they desire. That’s why the LCLAA was outraged that the Air force chose not to make Boeing the manufacturer of their new air tanker. This decision will prevent the creation of thousands of U.S. jobs.

The LCLAA (Labor Council for Latin American Advancement) strongly supported Boeing for this contract award. To us, the choice was simple. Either spend the $100 billion U.S. tax dollars this contract could potentially represent here in America to support jobs in our defense industry, or send that money to Europe to create jobs there.

Boeing’s competition was EADS and Airbus, a French company that is best known for their commercial aircraft. Boeing took full advantage of their decades of tanker experience to develop a state-of-the-art design that will outperform any other tanker in existence today. The Boeing KC-767 is a compact craft that provides greater mission flexibility and function while more than tripling our present tanker cargo, medevac and passenger capacity. Although the Boeing tanker far exceeds Air Force requirements, its intelligent design allows it to utilize smaller runways and hanger facilities, increasing its functionality.

But to union workers, the most important asset of this plane lies in its 85 percent U.S. content and manufacture. That would have meant the creation of thousands of skilled jobs across America, both within Boeing and at 300 other suppliers and subcontractors.

We have already lost too many jobs, in defense and many other industries, to foreign countries. Between 1990 and 2005, we saw five million manufacturing jobs evaporate due to outsourcing. Forty years ago, manufacturing represented 53 percent of our economy, now it’s down to less than ten percent.

These are the stable, living-wage jobs that built the American middle-class—the kind of jobs that Latino workers need today to help achieve their rightful piece of the American Dream. The government must do everything it can to support U.S. manufacturing jobs and awarding contracts like this to American companies is an important part of that process.

Boeing estimated the employment their tanker would support at 44,000 jobs in 40 states, about 20,000 more than the competition. Georgia was singled out as the site of 600 of those jobs, adding $25 million annually to the state economy.

Boeing is already a solid member of the Georgia aerospace community, employing 760 people here and doing business with 380 suppliers and vendors. Three of these Georgia suppliers – Delta TechOps, Eaton Corp. and McCann Aerospace Machining – were specifically designated as partners in this tanker project.

The members of LCLAA join their fellow union workers to demand that government contracts such as this be kept here in the United States. We must spend our tax dollars in a way that gives American workers the opportunity to build secure futures for their families and strengthen our economy. No country has a better labor force than the United States; let’s give them a chance to go to work.



Gabriela Lemus is executive director of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement, an advocacy group for Latino trade unionists.

        

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