I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show "carl mciver"
wrote back on Fri, 04 Mar 2005 23:21:50 GMT in
rec.crafts.metalworking :

"Machinists" is a general term for all the mechanics, electricians,
plumbers, etc that build the planes.

Don't forget the carpet installers. :-)

Name of the union, IAM, BTW. In order
to be a "real" machinist at Boeing, you have to go through an apprenticeship
which you really have to want in order to get it. I'm thinking about it,
but not willing to take a 25% pay cut in order to get better pay five years
down the road.

I would seriously consider it, if I worked for Boeing. But then again,
I'm single, so ...

To a certain degree, you're right, though. When Boeing ramps back up,
like now, the demand increases slightly, but with more and more work being
outsourced, jobs like these are less and less at The Lazy B. One thing that
I've noticed is that the Boeing folks tend to have a much tighter set of
tolerances than folks on the "outside" who've never had to work to such
precision. When I'm even cutting wood I'm thinking about 64th's!

Boeing isn't going to be "ramping up" manufacturing much, not in the
Seattle area. The work is also being outsourced, (I almost had a job with
a Boeing subcontractor - in Montana) along with management. Why do you
think headquarters moved to Chicago? Because they got tired of the grey
winter weather?

That new plant in Everett for the 7e7 is an "assembly plant". Parts
will be made all over, shipped to Everett, and "assembled" into aircraft.
Fortunately for Seattle and King COunty, they aren't as dependent on Boeing
for revenue streams. Unfortunately for Western Washington, the same
policies which lead Boeing to move headquarters and much operations, also
work for smaller operations.
--
pyotr filipivich.
as an explaination for the decline in the US's tech edge, James
Niccol wrote "It used to be that the USA was pretty good at
producing stuff teenaged boys could lose a finger or two playing with."