| District Lodge 90 Indianapolis, Indiana |
| 2006 IAM District Lodge 90 All Rights Reserved |
| Justice on the Job |
Machinists Welcome GAO Tanker Report
Washington, D.C., June 18, 2008 – The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace
Workers (IAM) today welcomed the report by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) that cited
serious flaws in the refueling tanker competition that led to a French-built Airbus being chosen
over a U.S.-manufactured Boeing 767.
“This is a major victory for America,” said IAM General Vice President Rich Michalski. “In
addition to multi-million dollar accounting errors and foreign government subsidies, the Air
Force made changes midway in the competition that further favored the Airbus proposal. The
GAO report should be the foundation for reversing this outrageous award without delay.”
The contract that could eventually be worth as much as $100 billion and support widespread job
creation also became a white hot national issue the minute the Air Force revealed it did not
consider the employment consequences of awarding a contract to a company based in
Toulouse, France.
“Awarding this contract to Boeing would preserve a key a manufacturing sector and provide real
economic stimulus for Boeing workers, vendors and communities in at least 30 U.S. states,” said
IAM President Tom Buffenbarger.
The IAM led a grassroots effort to overturn the tanker award, with members in all 50 states
contacting lawmakers and urging an investigation of the competition that resulted in an
unproven EADS-Airbus design being chosen over one based on Boeing’s 767, a model with
more than 10 million hours of commercial flying time.
“We are confident the Boeing aircraft met every criteria established by the Air Force and will give
our military a superior aircraft that will serve for decades,” said Michalski, who urged the Air
Force to award the refueling contract to Boeing without delay.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) represents nearly
35,000 Boeing employees in Kansas, Washington state and other locations across the country.
For more information, visit www.goiam.org.
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Boeing Wins Protest of Northrop Aerial-Tanker Award (Update2)
By Edmond Lococo and Gopal Ratnam
June 18 (Bloomberg) -- Boeing Co. deserves another chance to bid on the
$35 billion U.S. Air Force aerial-tanker contract won by rival Northrop
Grumman Corp., a government agency said.
``Our review of the record led us to conclude that the Air Force had made a
number of significant errors that could have affected the outcome of what
was a close competition between Boeing and Northrop Grumman,'' the U.S.
Government Accountability Office announced today in Washington. ``We
therefore sustained Boeing's protest.''
Boeing appealed to the GAO after Northrop and partner European
Aeronautic, Defence & Space Co. won the contract Feb. 29, snaring a
program that had been Boeing's for more than half a century. Boeing
claimed changes the Air Force made during the competition favored
Northrop. The selection of Northrop was undermined June 12 when both
companies confirmed the Air Force miscalculated operating costs of the
competing aircraft.
``While the variance in costs is trivial, it points to a broader erosion in the
government's rationale for picking the Northrop-EADS plane,'' Loren
Thompson, an analyst at Lexington Institute, an Arlington, Virginia-based
public policy research group, said in an e-mail before the announcement.
``The outcome of the competition was fairly close, as Boeing has argued in
its filings, rather than a decisive win for the Northrop-EADS team as the Air
Force asserts.''
Boeing shares have declined 11 percent since the decision, compared with a
12 percent drop in Northrop. Boeing rose $1.08 to $75.46 at 1:22 p.m. in New
York Stock Exchange trading, while Northrop fell 33 cents to $70.76.
Air Force Response
Boeing beat the odds in winning support from the GAO, the investigative
arm of Congress that sustains only one in four protests. Winning the protest
also helps Boeing keep its main commercial-aircraft rival, EADS' unit Airbus
SAS, from a getting a foothold in the U.S. defense industry. Airbus took the
No. 1 commercial-plane position away from Boeing in 2003.
GAO rulings are advisory. While the Air Force isn't required to follow the
agency's recommendation, the service has to explain to Congress if it
chooses to ignore the advice.
The Air Force must now respond within 60 days with a course of action
based on the GAO findings, adding to a four-year delay in the program that
the service says is needed to replace a fleet of airborne tankers in use since
1956.
Replacing Fleet
Efforts to begin replacing the fleet of more than 500 tankers have been held
up since 2004, when a plan to lease and buy 100 aircraft from Boeing
collapsed amid ethical violations by an executive and an Air Force official
that sent both to jail.
Alabama Governor Bob Riley was in an editorial board meeting at Bloomberg
headquarters in New York when he learned of the news, which will create
further delay in Northrop's plans to build the tankers in his state and create
at least 1,500 jobs.
``Oh, God, that's not good,'' said Riley, a Republican serving his second
term. Earlier, he said it would take ``an absolute nutcase'' to prefer the
Boeing bid over Northrop's.
The GAO decision doesn't imply that Boeing now has an easy road to
reversing the original award and capturing the work for itself, said Jim
McAleese of McAleese & Associates, a government contracting and national-
security law firm in McLean, Virginia.
``To be successful in any potential re-competition, Boeing must demonstrate
that it is either technically superior at a reasonable cost/price-premium, or
that it is significantly lowest-evaluated-cost,'' McAleese said in an e-mail
before the announcement. He wasn't involved in the protest.
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LONG THOMPSON EARNS BACKING OF
MACHINISTS AND AEROSPACE WORKERS
May 12, 2008
ARGOS, Ind. - Today the Indiana International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers
officially endorsed Jill Long Thompson for Governor of Indiana.
Representing more than 4,600 Hoosiers across the state and 730,000 members across North
America, the union includes professionals from the aerospace, automotive, government,
transportation and woodworking industries.
"Jill Long Thompson is someone that we know will stand up for the working people of this state,
because she's done it throughout her entire career," said Tim Hough, the Directing Business
Representative for Indiana International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers'
District Lodge 90.
"Jill understands that Indiana needs more jobs, but she also understands that they must be
good jobs," added Hough. "As Governor she will fight to protect our jobs from leaving the state,
she'll work with us to attract new jobs that pay a living wage and offer benefits and she'll fight to
ensure that our workplace's are safe - and that's why we enthusiastically endorse her
candidacy."
Long Thompson represented Northeast Indiana in the U.S. House of Representatives serving
from 1989 to 1995. She also served as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development from
1995 to 2001. She received her B.S. in Business from Valparaiso University and her M.B.A and
Ph.D. from Indiana University. A former educator, Long Thompson most recently served as CEO
of The National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy. She lives with her husband Don
Thompson, a commercial airline pilot, on their family farm in Marshall County.
For more information about Jill Long Thompson or her campaign, please visit www.
hoosiersforjill.com or call 574- 892-6100.
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Delegates to the IAM's 37th Grand Lodge Convention are as follows:
LL 70 Fort Wayne/Columbia City No One
LL 450 Logansport No One
LL 1227 Valparaiso Bob Parlin and Zane Whitcomb
LL 1595 Portland Tim Schultz
LL 1621 Fort Wayne Bruce Putnam
LL 2034 Churubusco Charlie Idding
LL 2069 Peru Robert Townsend, Chris Holland and Jan Drake
LL 2569 Fort Wayne Lori Dekoninick