Cog in the machine...

Catching up on a little light reading this holiday weekend, I was most of the way through the 33-page filing for the Federal District Court action in "Smith, Prewitt, Ailes vs Boeing/Ducommun" when I stumbled across this little gem:

100. Defendant Boeing has taken no significant steps to rectify the serious problems at Ducommun. Rather, Boeing entered into sham negotiations with Ducommun, the result of which was a token payment by Ducommun to Boeing and no significant corrective action. At one point during a presentation by the Team to directors of Boeing, Carolyn Harms (Director of Production) stated that in addition to taking steps to assure that safe parts were going to be supplied in the future by Ducommun, Boeing should also consider that aircraft in service with Ducommun parts be inspected. Ron Brunton (Director of Quality) told Ms. Harms that her proposal was not going to happen.

I don't know who should be most concerned about this: Onex, because this is their new management team, or Boeing, 'cause this will be their biggest supplier, or us workers, who don't need to lose our pensions should TurnerCo go bankrupt from paying huge fines.


-- Bill, who couldn't make this $#!% up if he tried...

We got quite a few calls and letters about Mr. Wright's press conference today. The vast majority of folks who complained that the union didn't matter anymore apparently don't understand the difference between the statements

We were under no obligation to negotiate with the unions.

...and Mr. Wright's complete statement, which was

We were under no obligation to negotiate with the unions before we became the employer.

You'll notice in the latter, more complete statement, Mr Wright readily implies an obligation for Onex to negotiate with the unions, even if most panicked listeners blacked out everything he said after "no obligation to negotiate..."

So please, everyone, relax... Onex must enter into "good faith" negotiations with the unions once they've officially become our boss. Then, once they are our legal employer, we can complete the "formal" negotiations process, with or without "labor action" from the unions if Onex chooses to unilaterally implement their changes to our current employment contract.

-- Bill, who sometimes finds the sound of thunder quite soothing...

I'm walking around the second floor of the Plant 2 Cafeteria, trying to track down one of the two coworkers I need to talk to in order to complete a job for The Boss, who's had to have other folks try to cover my work during my negotiation absence. So I'm trying to get hir job done, but I keep getting pulled away by coworkers who'd like to find out my take on negotiations.

While I'm not willing to give up the detailed lines of the contract, I'm more than happy to give everyone my perception of the colors. So I'm over at my friend and coworker Brian "Sign the freakin' card, Brian" Hickman's workstation, talking to him and Patty and Joe and some others about what's been going on over the past week or so when someone there asks me how I'd vote the offer as it stands today. I honestly answer "No." Hearing that, one of my other coworkers, previously believed to be concentrating, head down, at hir computer, turns and asks if I'd really be willing to vote myself out of a job.

I replied that "vote myself out of a job" really wasn't one of the likely options here. Oh, sure, Boeing has been more than willing to threaten to piece us up and sell us out and the So Called Liberal Media has been more that willing to repeat that threat. But they would much rather sell us off in one big piece, so they don't have to go through this costly process over and over and over again.

And it's not like we don't have other folks interested in buying our "house," whole. For example, I'd direct y'all to this news story:

GKN has pulled out of the running to buy Boeing's Wichita commercial aircraft division for around $2bn. The company was long the frontrunner in the race to buy the Kansas fuselage assembly plant. Its withdrawal leaves two bidders, understood to be Canadian investment firm Onex and Vought Aircraft Industries. Onex is believed to have tabled the highest bid for the plant.

Now, best I can tell from their initial press release, Onex is paying only $1.5 billion, so if they decide they have to back out of the deal perhaps, ya think, Boeing would consider a potentially higher bid from GKN before trying to piece us out?


-- Bill, who was working the Boeing job today, rather than negotiatin', because Onex isn't ready -- and Boeing isn't willing -- to talk to us right now...

Well, it looks like I've been given the answer to my question about "how me and my coworkers will profit from the sacrifices [in medical and pension] that we're being asked to make."

Based on a news release I read the other day, it appears Onex is promising protections from layoffs and subcontracting to the tune of [pinky to lips] one BILLION dollars:

Mr. Wright added, "What we have here is an owner committed to investing a billion U.S. dollars in the business over the next five years. That's a billion dollars more in job security. This is going to preserve jobs and increase job security for the people who work here."

With this language, it appears that Onex is willing to eat $200 million in losses each year to protect us from outsourcing and layoff. And a promise of 5 years of employment might just be enough to offset my losses in medical.


UPDATE, Monday 5/23: Okay, I was mistaken. Onex really isn’t promising job security, they’re just wording their answers to the reporters so it sounds like they are. In reality, Boeing is still allowed to outsource our work to meet any “offset” agreements and TurnerCo can still subcontract out any of our work they desire.

-- Bill, who guesses they are using the money to just buy more toys for Mr Turner...

Best I can tell, the IAM's Equity Participation Program is a contract signing bonus that allows them to participate in TurnerCo's version of Boeing's ShareValue, only with a far higher annual threshold required for a payout.


-- Bill, who figures our early retiree medical should be worth about 13.5 million shares...

If the NewCo really wanted to have similar medical benefit packages across its workforce, I'd guess that part of the SPEEA offer would look alot like the IAM's summary of theirs.


-- Bill, who'll say no more...

In the middle of Saturday's Chamber of Commerce "Sale GOOOOOOD!" public relations story on the front page of the Eagle, I read this:

...At the closing date, Onex will invest at least $375 million of the purchase price. The rest will be financed from Citicorp North American. Onex investment will come from an investment fund, Onex Partners, Onex managing director Nigel Wright said...

Well, assuming that no one's actually lied in any of these news stories -- and I have no reason to assume anyone has -- I wonder what the poker chip buy-in is to become a player at the Onex Partner table. I ask, because I recall this press release ...

TORONTO — Onex Corporation (TSX: OCX.SV) announced today it has agreed to acquire the Wichita/Tulsa Division of Boeing Commercial Airplanes in a transaction valued at $1.5 billion, consisting of approximately $1.1 billion in cash and the assumption of certain liabilities. Senior management of the business will be investors and owners along with Onex.

...and I was just wondering what Messrs Turner, Waner, Jackson, and Brunton had to pay Onex Partners to become "investors and owners" in our Once and Future Company.

Ya see, I'd bet that we employees are anteing up far more into this new business than are those "senior management of the business." We would, therefore, expect to get an equal or greater return on the value of the proposed cuts to our medical and pension and wages that the current contract offers are trying to force us to risk.

As I've stated more than once during negotiations, TurnerCo is asking the workforce to sacrifice its lifestyle "for the good of the Company." From the sacrifice the employees would make, Mr. Wright and Onex should profit. Because of our sacrifice, Mr Turner and the leaders of his Company-To-Be-Named-Later will profit. All I wanna know is how me and my coworkers will profit from the sacrifice we're being asked to make here.


-- Bill, whose grammar be damned...

Okay, it's a small, selfish pleasure, but this is probably my favorite clause in the Boeing/"Midwestern Aircraft" Asset Purchase Agreement, in that it's just one less petty little distraction I'm gonna hafta suffer as a potential result of the sale:

1.1 Purchase and Sale of Assets...(a) Upon the terms and subject to the conditions of this Agreement, on the Closing Date, Buyer shall purchase from Seller... all of the following (the "Assets")... (ix) All goodwill associated with the Business and, to the extent assignable, telephone and fax numbers and listings for the 526 prefix;

-- Bill, who can be reached at 526-2360. When I'm not in negotiations, that is...

"Oh, we understand that employees are concerned with the potential loss of promised benefits," the Compensation guy says. "We just don’t care about the employees’ concerns..."

-- Bill, who may be paraphrasing a bit here...

I've been rather dismayed at the behavior of our executives of late. It seems that Boeing is unable to sell the Wichita divestiture on its merits, alone, and our alleged leaders have now resorted to threats and coercion in their attempt to get employees to buy into the sale.

"If you don't accept a job offer from Onex, we consider it a 'voluntary termination' and you won't get your retirement benefits," local management warns us. Boeing-Commercial execs threaten to sell us off, piece by piece, if the Onex sale fails to complete. And the threats will only get worse, if this "draft" cover to the next issue of Boeing Frontiers is any indication:

Apparently, my cats have been taking to grabbing one of the black Sharpies from my desk and scrawling "stoopid!" across my forehead while I sleep because, for some reason, Boeing thinks I've forgotten that there were other companies interested in buying our "house" just a few short weeks ago. If Boeing is unwilling or unable to complete the deal to the satisfaction of both Onex and the unions, there's always GKN or Vought or whomever else toured the facility and expressed an interest in acquiring our operations. So please let the Boss know that you're not much concerned about their bluff and bluster.


-- Bill, who certifies no animals were harmed in posting this message...