Managers in Washington accused of hounding staff to keep quiet over quality concerns, as employees point to union-busting

Boeing’s largest factory is in “panic mode”, according to workers and union officials, with managers accused of hounding staff to keep quiet over quality concerns.

The US plane maker has been grappling with a safety crisis sparked by a cabin panel blowout during a flight in January, and intense scrutiny of its production line as regulators launched a string of investigations.

Its site at Everett, Washington – hailed as the world’s biggest manufacturing building – is at the heart of Boeing’s operation, responsible for building planes like the 747 and 767, and fixing the 787 Dreamliner.

      • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        Mainly because of Boeing. When Boeing had their 737MAX issues, Airbus’s books filled up with orders.

      • Avid Amoeba@lemmy.ca
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        5 months ago

        Sounds like they could hire more well paid unionized labor to help with the backlog and make bank.

    • stoly@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Sadly airbus is more backed up and they plus Boeing are the only two viable producers in the world unless you want to buy questionable planes from China.

      • Skua@kbin.earth
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        5 months ago

        Regardless of your thoughts on Comac, they just don’t produce anything that competes with anything bigger than an A320 / 737. The only company that does is Ilyushin, and they make roughly one per year

      • Pringles
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        5 months ago

        They are trying to ramp up production, but that’s a very hard thing to do given the sheer amount of suppliers (over 1000) and the general labor shortage in aviation. They are actively sending their own engineers to suppliers to help out where possible, but there is only so much they can do.

        Even with ramped up production the backlog (8500+ planes) will take almost a decade to clear (735 planes produced in 2023). So yea, I could imagine some airlines with a strong cash position will simply buy other airlines just to take over their planes and orders instead of putting in a new order.