McCain played key role in bad tanker deal
Workers need a U.S. president “who will protect our jobs,” says Homer Marshall, UAW Local 887 president.
The Burbank, Calif., local represents aerospace workers who put America on the moon, built main engines of the Space Shuttle fleet, sections of the International Space Station, and a variety of satellites and aircraft. About 330 of the local’s members work for Boeing.
When Republican presidential candidate John McCain thinks about aerospace, however, it appears that his first thoughts are not about American workers, but about the foreign companies who are clients of lobbyists employed as his top campaign aides.
Earlier this year Boeing competed for the contract to build U.S. Air Force refueling tankers. The contract meant $40 billion and at least 44,000 new and existing U.S. jobs.
On Feb. 29 the Air Force awarded the contract to Northrop Grumman and European Aeronautic Defense and Space (EADS) Co., the parent company of Airbus.
According to a Pentagon official quoted in Newsweek’s June 30 edition, McCain “was trying to jam us and bully us to make sure there was competition by giving EADS an advantage.” Five of McCain’s top aides, including his former finance chair and his finance director, were registered lobbyists for EADS.
McCain pushed the Pentagon to change the bidding process in Airbus’ favor regarding government subsidies, placing Boeing, which receives no subsidies, at a clear disadvantage.
Northrop-EADS says that parts will come from suppliers across the globe. Final assembly of the craft would take place at a nonunion Airbus plant near Mobile, Ala.
After the contract was announced, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama spoke out in support of Boeing and its workers. It’s hard to believe, Obama said, “an American company that has been a traditional source of aeronautical excellence could not have done this job.”
After Obama, the UAW and others raised concerns, a review by the U.S. Governmental Accountability Office found the Air Force’s bidding process to be seriously flawed. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced in July the tanker contract will be reopened for a new round of bidding.
The tanker job, Marshall said, is “work that our members could have been doing. And if we have someone like Barack Obama running this country, workers would have a chance to have a level playing field. It would make companies think twice about how they treat us.”
