Consolidated Kansas

[Hawkeye95]

Boeing employs a little over 2,000 people right now here in Wichita. There are other aerospace companies here, but they are being hit hard themselves by the current economy. Beech nearly went under, and Cessna has like half of their people on furlow right now. They are lucky to be on furlow and not laid off. I think Bombardier is the only company hiring-- but just a few people to ramp up and it's all engineering. Here's the impact you need to think about-- it's not just going to be the loss of the 2,000 jobs, but the contractors around here in Wichita, too. Boeing uses a lot of local companies around here for various things, too many to get into. But a good example is we no longer have a wire shop on site any longer, so we hire that out, along with other electronic components. So those companies very well could go under themselves-- I don't know if the other plane companies could keep them afloat, or if they could-- these smaller companies would have to scale back drastically. The real estate is projected to tank if Boeing leaves. Which is BAD for us, since it'll be hard to sell our house, and difficult to get what it's worth.

It would be a buyers market for sure! If you were looking to buy-- do it during that time period.

OH-- and Spirit did buy up a lot of Boeing's work, but it was all commercial and line work. NONE of it was military. Boeing had decided a long time ago to concentrate more on military down at this site because of our close proximity to the AFB and the ease of getting our planes in and out. Spirit has worked hard to maintain a good working relationship with the AFB to continue to be able to bring their own planes in.

OH- and the biggest reason Boeing sold to Spirit? To get rid of a lot of the IAM union workers that were driving up their costs here and making them in capable of being competitive. I like unions, but when they are breaking a company, it's time to re-think what the whole purpose of the union was to begin with. It was a bargaining unit to make sure the little person didn't get stomped on. Now it's the other way around. SPEEA (engineering) is nothing like the IAM (well known for being the line worker union) bargaining unit. SPEEA knows they need to work with the company and not nickle and dime them.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Danz, sounds like button quail aren't the smartest birds. Poor things. Trying to kill themselves in the water. Geez. I still have to buy something for my DH, so don't feel too bad that you're behind! I've got to get that done tomorrow! We'll see how the weather holds up and if I can get that done. Sigh.

ChickenPeep- no snow yet!! I am really torn-- I hope we don't just because I HATE getting out to the barn to feed horses in snow and ice... but then it might be nice to have a sleep in day for the kids and no school. I don't know.

Are you hoping for a snow day?

Well it is STILL raining. We were without power for half the day. Fun. We just got it back right around 5pm. If I had an incubator going- I'd have been in BIG trouble. I think we had no power for about 4 or 5 hours. Our property looks like a lake out there!! It's awful! If it freezes, we're going to be buried under ICE. I'm hoping this whole 'snow' thing blows over quickly and leaves us alone so we can dry out without the skating rink.

Well, I am sick over this whole Boeing thing, but I'm going to trust that God has a plan for us and perhaps it will lead us in a direction we will be thankful for later. On the other hand, I've had my resume back in at Boeing for the last year and my old manager keeps telling me he'd hire me if he only had work. So perhaps a new site will be able to get me back on. I'm not really sure I want to go back to work, but if we move to some place like St Louis, I don't know if we could afford to live there without me working. The cost of living there is sooo high! I contacted a realtor this morning and she showed me some listings in our price range. (just wanted to see what our money could bring and get an idea of where we'd be--I told her that is what I was doing and she was more than happy to help) The closest she could get right now was about an hour and 30 mins out from St Louis! eeks! Everything else starts REALLY high-- especially for property that would have acreage for the horses and chickens. Sigh. I will just let it go and leave it up to Him. On the other hand-- this house was amazing! I'd love to live there! It was huge and had a full covered porch all the way around the house, 12 acres, and a kitchen as big as my living room. I just don't know if we'd kill each other over that commute. ha!

Hope we're not all floating tomorrow... I'm about ready to break out a raft and row to the mail box.

 

[Trish44]

Hawkeye, it's true a lot of the companies are "union-busting" because they don't want to pay the cost of healthcare or the wages any more. We got hit with a horrible health plan for the next 3 years because of what all is going on in these companies. GE is such a huge diversified company that they can afford to give better health care plans for their employees, yet they chose to hit us with a health plan that will cause a lot of people to go without the health care they need because they won't be able to afford all of the out of pocket expenses. I agree that some of the unions have gotten out of hand with their greediness at times, but if the workers don't have a union they just have to take whatever is thrown at them. I worked in healthcare for over 20 years & nobody has been able to form any unions in those fields because every time they do the people involved get fired. I watched as hospitals treated their employees like crap & there was nothing they could do except take it. They could do whatever they pleased & there was no recourse. If you were injured on the job you might as well kiss your job goodbye because after you were injured & got treatment they were through with you. They shut our whole department down because we got injured from doing the job they gave us to do in an inefficient manner. The injuries were their fault & could have been avoided, but they were determined to cut corners & costs & that was all that was important to them. Then they were angry that we all had to have surgeries to fix the problems they caused & had to pay work comp claims. That is why they still need unions.

 

[ChickenPeep]

Quote:
Nah, I just love snow!

 

[Trish44]

No snow here, just more rain & more rain.

 

[Hawkeye95]

Quote:
I was with SPEEA when I worked at Boeing, and a paying member at that! So I'm for unions. But the IAM is completely out of control and it's too bad that they nearly drove the Wichita site into the ground back when they mostly belonged to Boeing. Their bargaining unit is unreasonable, and asks for insane pay increases, and is always wanting "one more thing" and it NEVER ends for them! SPEEA just does enough to ensure their employees are covered by good insurance and get a pay increase that is followed by the national average in their field-- no sticking it to the 'man' and in the end, hurting themselves. The union problems have not much to do with health insurance, as we have one of the best insurance selections around. Boeing has several plans to suit any needs. We happen to be on the most expensive one because I have a serious heart condition and I have to be able to see my cardiologist with out having to see my Primary first-- I don't need any hoops. Had a heart attack at 26 yrs, and if I'm having troubles, I want to be able to go right to the cardio skipping Primary who wouldn't know what to do anyway.. ANYway... I think the union specifically with Boeing really needs to be put back in their place, and I guess they sort of were when they were sold off and now a possible (likely??) move and shut down altogether. A while back, Boeing gave the site a run down on what it cost them to build something and then listed off WHY it was so expensive, and it was mainly because the union has driven up that price all on their own. It would be cheaper to move else where and stay competitive than lose the company altogether. So, I'm very understanding about it, but also super annoyed with why we find ourselves where we are. A lot of it is greed on the employees. I'm really sorry about your bad experience with your company and the injuries you received. That is very unfortunate, and they could have had a class action law suit brought against them if the employees had banded together... but then at what cost? To lose their jobs? It's always that fine line...

 

[Hawkeye95]

Quote:
Nah, I just love snow!

HA! Well, you and my neighbor are a pair, I think she's been praying for snow for like --- 6 weeks! LOL She wants it to snow soooo badly. The only time I like snow is if I'm skiing on it. That's about it. Even then... the last time i did that, I did one of those hilarious (which means painful and embarassing) wipe outs where snow went UP my nose, and packed in behind my sunglasses while I did a face plant into a bank! I nearly did the splits doing that bit, too. Once everyone saw me get up and was alive, they all bust out laughing and rolling, it must have been a sight. I was taking some of those stupid moguls waaaaay too fast! That's the last time I let my husband convince me to do something I know is really out of my skill! LOL!

 

[checoukan]

Row-Row-Row my boat,
go out to do my chores,
Heavenly, heavenly, heavenly, heavenly,
once you get back in-doors!

 

[Trish44]

hahahaha, that was a good one checoukan! I think we're all feeling that way right now.

 

[chicken danz]

LOL! Great little poem!
On the subject of unions, I belonged to one years ago which principally only served to keep the employees from being screwed or mistreated. Then I belonged to the IBEW. What a crock. They took a large chunk of my salary and only seemed to care about certain work groups while using other groups to bargain with. In other words my work group lost benefits so certain others could gain them. They froze our wages so another group could get an enormous increase.
I could tell you horror stories. I guess there are the good and the bad. You just never know which kind of union you'll be in. The last one cost me thousands in lost wages along with several hundred dollars a year in union dues.
As far as insurance that is one of the bargaining chips they use. So now 2/3rds of my retirement check goes just to pay my health insurance. Then after I pay all the co-pays and deductibles I still pay thousands in medical bills every year. I am like Hawkeye in that I have to pay for expensive insurance because I need the medical care.
Well I cost myself some extra money today. I got worried about getting shopping done. One of my sons had called a couple nights ago wanting to know something inexpensive to get DH. So when I got some definite answers I bought him a couple gifts I thought my sons would want to split the cost on. Since I still didn't have anything to give him from me I spent a lot more than I intended to buy him yet another pricey gift.
So then this afternoon I learned my oldest son had already done his shopping. And then I talked to my other son who had called 2 nights ago to see if he was interested. In the meantime his wife had purchased me a gift and it was over the cost of what they had budgeted for gifts for us. So now after DH and I agreed to just get small gifts for each other, I spent way way more than intended.
I have no sense when it comes to buying presents. If I were ever well to do it wouldn't last because I'd spend it all on family and friends.
It is still raining here and it hasn't stopped. I guess we are going to have an ice rink out here tomorrow. Oh joy! I would have rather had snow. I can walk in snow but I guarantee you I will be on the ground before tomorrow is over.