Fri, Oct 30, 2009
International Association Of Machinists Blasts Northrup/EADS
Bid
While the Air Force continues to wrestle with replacing it's
aging fleet of KC-135 tankers, a war of words continues to get
louder, with various factions hoping to slice off a piece of the
multi-billion dollar program. Earlier in the week, lawmakers from
four southern states announced an alliance who's stated initial
purpose is to promote the Northrop Grumman/EADS tanker, which they
say would be built largely on the U.S. Gulf Coast. Wednesday,
General Vice President Richard Michalski of the International
Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers issued the
following statement, which he said responds to recent statements by
Northrop Grumman about its bid to win the Air Force's $35 billion
tanker contract:
"EADS/Airbus is currently promoting its phantom tanker program
around the world without Northrop Grumman. So here's the 'big why:'
if Northrop Grumman is a full partner with EADS/Airbus on the
tanker program, why aren't they being marketed around the world
alongside the French company?
It turns out that the 'big why' is a big lie. EADS/Airbus is
using Northrop Grumman as mere window dressing on its latest ploy
to steal American jobs.
The Air Force has requested a tanker aircraft based on an
existing commercial aircraft. Northrop has never built a single
commercial aircraft, nor does it have the assembly lines or
engineers needed to build one. Instead, EADS intends to propose its
A330, which is made and maintained in Europe and is the product of
what has been determined by the World Trade Organization to be an
illegal subsidy campaign intended to steal U.S. jobs.
The so-called Northrop/EADS partnership on the tankers is little
more than a press release. We need a fully transparent procurement
process for the tanker replacement.
The first step would be to acknowledge that the A330 is an
EADS/Airbus bid that is financed with European subsidies that the
World Trade Organization has declared illegal."
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