Connecticut Workers Protest Tanker Contract
April 2, 2008 - At a rally in East Hartford, CT, this week, union
members, business leaders, elected officials and workers from across
Connecticut voiced their collective outrage over the awarding of a
$40 billion Air Force tanker contract to Airbus and Northrop
Grumman.
“If we don’t maintain our industrial base and skilled workforce, our
national security is in jeopardy,” said District 26 Directing
Business Representative Everett Corey. “We need to start with this
contract – keep the jobs here in the U.S., where the people are
paying the taxes that fund this program.”
Connecticut stands to lose more than 4,000 jobs at Pratt & Whitney
in addition to numerous jobs at smaller vendors and suppliers. At a
time when our nation faces a looming recession and record trade
deficits, it is unconscionable to award a multi-billion contract to
another nation rather than utilize our own skilled workers.
Bush Flogs Trade Pact With Columbia
Ignoring a blood-soaked record of human rights violations that
includes murder, kidnapping and torture of trade union leaders,
President George Bush is urging Congress to approve a free trade
agreement with Columbia, calling it essential to America’s national
security interests.
The bid by the Bush administration to secure yet another free trade
deal was immediately attacked by lawmakers, labor leaders and human
rights activists across the hemisphere.
“The IAM strongly opposes the U.S. Columbia Free Trade Act (FTA) and
will continue to work tirelessly to ensure its defeat,” declared IAM
President Tom Buffenbarger. “Forcing consideration of this
NAFTA-style trade agreement is especially outrageous given the
hundreds of murders that have been committed against trade unionists
over the past few years. Moreover, this trade deal comes at a time
when record numbers of U.S. workers are losing their jobs as more
and more corporations relocate outside our country.”
The chances for the legislation to win Congressional approval appear
slim, with Rep. Mike Michaud (D-ME), co-founder of the House Trade
Working Group, declaring the Columbia FTA dead on arrival. “If the
Bush administration really believes this agreement is vital to
national security interests, it would not send it to certain
defeat,” said Michaud. “They would work with Democrats to stop labor
leader assassinations and address forced displacement and murder of
Afro-Columbians.”
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GAO to Investigate $40 Billion Tanker Contract
If the Air Force officials who awarded a $40 billion contract to
Airbus and EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co.) were
betting the outrage over the deal would die out quickly, they
gambled wrong. A formal protest filed today by the Boeing Co. will
be considered by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to
determine if the multi-billion contract was properly awarded.
March 11, 2008 - From Seattle, WA and Wichita, KS to Washington,
D.C., elected officials are going ballistic over the Air Force’s
decision to outsource an entire fleet of U.S. military aircraft to a
consortium that is heavily subsidized by European governments. “This
is one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen,” said Rep. Norm Dicks
(D-WA), who echoed the sentiments of many lawmakers in the House and
Senate who were stunned by the decision to bypass Boeing, a U.S.
company that has been supplying the Air Force with refueling tankers
for nearly 50 years.
The controversy gained fresh legs when Air Force officials admitted
the impact on American jobs was not one of their criteria for
awarding the contract, which could eventually be worth as much as
$100 billion. Boeing officials also claim the Air Force changed its
criteria after the bidding was underway, further favoring Airbus.
Leading the charge to give Airbus a leg up on the historic contract
was none other than presidential aspirant John McCain (R-AZ), who
prodded the Pentagon in 2006 to develop bidding procedures that did
not exclude Airbus.
“Awarding this contract to Boeing would support at least 44,000 U.S.
jobs in 40 states,” said IAM International President Tom
Buffenbarger. “Instead, billions in U.S. taxpayer dollars will be
used to create jobs in Toulouse, France, and give European countries
the potential to influence U.S. foreign policy to an unprecedented
degree.”
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