SOUTH CAROLINA DREAMLINER FACILITY FACES ITS TOUGHEST CHALLENGE YET
It hasn’t even aired in the United States yet, but a forthcoming news report on aircraft manufacturer Boeing’s troubled Dreamliner aircraft is already making waves across the country.
Entitled “Broken Dreams: The Boeing 787” – the report goes inside Boeing’s troubled North Charleston, S.C. facility, exposing in detail many of the issues this website has been writing on for months related to this heavily taxpayer-subsidized facility. It also raises additional issues … including allegations of widespread drug use by Boeing employees.
(For showtimes, CLICK HERE).
One source familiar with the report is already describing it as a “bombshell detonation.”
“It qualifies – dramatically so – a quantitative problem,” the source said. “It’s drugs – and drugs always make for sexy headlines.”
Predictably, South Carolina’s subservient mainstream media – most notably The Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier – isn’t offering its readers any such headlines. Why not? Easy: The paper is in the tank for Boeing. In fact not only did it refuse to investigate the North Charleston plant’s problems (including the drug allegations), it’s actually attacking Al Jazeera – the network which is airing the report – for its use of hidden cameras at the Boeing facility.
Meanwhile South Carolina’s two establishment candidates for governor are arguing over who loves Boeing the most.
Elsewhere, though, the Al Jazeera report is receiving praise.
“Hidden-camera reportage is not the most satisfying investigative technique – the viewer can’t judge credibility or context – but the unflattering portrait is fleshed out with on-the-record interviews with former employees and others,” observed Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times. “There’s nothing harder in journalism than getting behind the scenes of a manufacturing process, whether it’s for airplanes or frozen food, to see what’s really going on.”
You can say that again …
For those of you keeping score at home, South Carolina taxpayers have given Boeing more than $1 billion since 2009.
92 comments
So the plane should say, “Made While High in South Carolina”
“Made While High in the Lowcountry”
Let’s also add below your line, “It’s a great day in South Carolina”.
:)
Or a slight tweak….”Every day’s a great day in South Carolina!”
LOL. Now I’m picturing a Rastafarian saying that.
LMAO!
“It’s a great day in South Carolina, Man!”
“Better than Mississippi could do”
I still like Chip Limehouse’s line: “We make airplanes here. And they FLY!”
lol…did he really say that? I would think it would be something along the line of “They make airplanes here that I can eat in.”
and Al Jazerra is an accepted credible source that may or may not be working in conjunction with which labour union?
As usual Sic Willie ignores the linkage between Al Jazerra and Qatar and Qatar Airways which not only flies 787s but has many on order. The other planes in their fleet are from Boeing’s competitor Airbus. Is Qatar trying to get a price cut from Boeing or is this skullduggery by Airbus hoping to get the Boeing contracts cancelled?
Qatar’s going to have a hard time getting discounts as a result of this when the backlog is backed all the way up to 2020.
But, but per Sic Willie et al this plane is soooo dangerous!
CNSYD…you’re wandering off the Reservation into P. Branton territory.
[Boomerang, 101, 909, SPAWAR, etc]
“former employees” Why are they former? Could this be why they want to trash their former employer?
…or maybe those currently employed might be afraid they’ll lose their job if Boeing goes on the rampage and steps up the drug testing.
That still does not answer why they are former employees.
I kinda think it does, it’s tough to find those currently employed to rat our their employer, for fear of their jobs.
I am sure you are not that dense. Did they leave because they were unhappy with the conditions? Did they leave because they found a better paying job? Were they fired for cause? Any or all of those type reasons will color their opinion.
I think you missed my point…but it’s all good.
Probably because they failed the drug test. Ya think ???
I guess if we hear that hundreds of Boeing employees just lost their jobs for “unspecified” reasons, we’ll know what really happened, right? Time to piss in the cup, boys.
Precisely.
maybe, they were caught with cameras in the facility?
Looks like it isn’t just former employees, go to 24 mins in:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvkEpstd9os
Make that “former disgruntled employees” … or … “former doper employees” … or … “former Boeing unionists” … or “former ‘progressive’ trolls” … or … or …
Printing slander does not make it so …
Does Boeing have troubles from Al Jazeera? Maybe because too many Al Jazeera IslamoFascist “reporters” are on the “do not fly” lists.
Does Boeing have troubles former moonshiners turned meth-heads? Welcome to the south. (SC is certainly better than Colorado where welfare sluts with EBT cards can buy pot.)
I think Will’s just mad cause he got caught trying to take photos of the plant…
and these guys had cameras IN THE PLANT.
Nah, Will got caught at the front gate which he thought was public property. It isn’t.
Neil Genzlinger of The New York Times is critical of the use of hidden camera. Right Will?
Using “Al Jazerra” with any word containing “bomb” seems appropriate on so many levels.
But seriously, they are probably at least half right…there’s always truth in some of these things even if motives are in question.
Btw, the way I see Boeing recovering from this disaster PR wise, is to volunteer the use of a Dreamliner for the sequel of “Soul Plane”, bringing back Snoop Dog(or is it Snoop Lion?) as captain.
That’s two of us that have seen it.
PR Disaster? Please. It’ll be a PR disaster when they actually have cancellations as a result of this video. But that isn’t going to happen. Customers are satisfied with the 787. 10 minutes into the video, the person criticizing the battery fix claims that it won’t work. But it’s been more a year and half and it still hasn’t failed.
lmao @ the notion you don’t think this is a PR disaster
Three words:
“Soul Plane II”
Again, how is it a PR disaster so far? Oh no, a news report that is bad for Boeing. Now, what is the fallout for Boeing so far? *crickets*
It’s like someone writing a meanie about Obama and no fallout happens as a result about it. You qualify a negative paper about Obama as a PR disaster?
Is it really that tough to distinguish before a “news report” and a full fledged, two part investigation?
They’ve got employees on record, 10 of 15, saying they wouldn’t fly on the plane they are making! lol
You also have others hustling drugs inside the plant, ON VIDEO….I really can’t believe you actually believe what you are typing. You must work for Boeing in PR or something.
“Now, what is the fallout so far? *crickets*”
lol…it’s been a couple of hours!!!! Give it some time champ. If the MSM picks up on it, it’ll be a snowball from hell. If you do work for Boeing PR, then you boys better pull your heads out of your asses and get in front of it before it bowls you over.
*before=between
Again, you still haven’t pointed out the fallout from this which there are none so far. A fallout would be something like actual 787 cancellations as a direct result from this. Boeing has suffered cancellations from the battery failures and the battery fix actually restored confidence which they’ve gained over several hundred orders since then.
10 of 15 workers on camera not wanting to fly on a plane? Oh no, who cares. Point out to me one Charleston-manufactured plane that has fallen out of the sky. Just one will do.
I don’t think you understand the word “hustling”. Native Ink already points out that anyone can get drugs in North Charleston. News flash, Dorchester Road has tons of people slinging drugs.
And the MSM already has picked up on this video from several days ago when this was made official on Monday. The Seattle Times already debunked the memo that AJ parades constantly in the video.
You’re so obtuse I just can’t go any further.
You’re right, they’ll be no fallout…lol…it would have happened by now. You’re also right that 2/3 of the surveyed workers not trusting the plane they are building is no big deal. You’re also right, I don’t understand what “hustling” is…lol
There, you are right on everything. So now we have nothing to argue about. Maybe I was wrong about you working in PR, maybe you work in quality control.
“You’re so obtuse” says a person who doesn’t work for Boeing but bases his opinion on a flawed news report that parades around a memo that’s been debunked by the Seattle Times who employs Dominic Gates who is not the biggest fan of Boeing. The same guy tried to contact the person who runs NYC787 asking for tips on anything bad if they had any (based on Airliners info).
“I don’t understand” Correct, you don’t.
“you are right on everything” Thank you.
btw, how many times are you going to edit your responses to mine? My opinion, which obviously is wrong to you, must have some kind of weird hold on you.
You can always create an account to edit. A marvel concept, I know!
“a marvel concept”
I suppose you’ll edit that to, right? At least that won’t be annoying.
*too
https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Amarvel&
https://www.google.com/search?q=define%3Aconcept
Just so you understand what that means.
I’m so glad you are here to explain the meaning of “hustling” and “marvel” to me.
It’s marvelous, really.
Again, it seems you didn’t watch the video. The person they have on camera says this:
“It’s all coke and painkillers and, what’s the other one? You can get weed here. You can get some really good weed here.
Really, like in the plant?
Yeah.
Like, there’s somebody who has it right now?
I could walk up to them and just…
No I don’t know if they have it right here. You’ve got to place your order.”
However, they did not hustle drugs in the video nor show any evidence of hustling drugs. Surprise, people can make up shit to get attention.
Again I refer you to the definition of “hustle”
“coerce or pressure someone into doing or choosing something.” Again, that didn’t happen in the video. Geez, did you even graduate high school?
Well, I do know how to use marvelous, so there’s that.
How do you think that guy found out about the drugs btw, do you think the dealer sat around and said to himself: “I’m just gonna bring this stuff here and not tell anyone, it’ll sell itself.”
Also moron, since it’s tool time with you, here’s the link to the definition of “hustling”:
https://www.google.com/search?q=hustlling&oq=hustlling&aqs=chrome..69i57.1149j0j8&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=122&ie=UTF-8#q=hustling&spell=1
Notice in it’s “North American” use, it is defined as “sell aggressively”.
Of course, your marvelous grasp on NA vocabulary must have missed that.
Any person would tell you that’s not proof. That’s what we call anecdotal statements.
Did the person throw out prices? Did the person actually offer a product? Did the person actually show what he had?
Now you’re talking about selling. Here’s the definition of selling
“give or hand over (something) in exchange for money.”
Did that happen on the camera in the video? Again no.
Keep digging that hole.
“obtuse”
lol
You’re learning words? Wow, it’s like watching an idiot grow up.
“2/3 of the surveyed workers” How do you know how many were really surveyed? It is easy to cherry pick the responses you want to use when you have an agenda. See Sic Willie if you need pointers on how to do this.
I’m going to assume that what they stated in the video is correct. If you choose not to believe it, that is your prerogative.
I’m sure Al Jazeera will be sued by Boeing for libel as a result of they lied, just like Nikki will be suing Will for libel.
Perhaps you need to rethink the word assume using the street meaning.
“… I’m sure Al Jazeera will be sued by Boeing for libel as a result [if] they lied …” Not likely if Boeing wants to keep selling planes to Dubai, UAE, Saudi Arabia, et al.
“2/3 of the surveyed workers” …?? All 10 of them (out of 15)?? LOL, That’s like 0.001th of total employees. Jeez, if Boeing only did had a disgruntled employee problem that “big”!
(I’m guessing 8 out of those 10 are too chicken to fly on anything. Chicken Shiites, most likely :>)
Wait, some employees are HIGH AT WORK?!? WHAT A BOMBSHELL.
I visited a friend at an upscale rehab in the mountains of North Carolina. The visitation room looked like a convention of the SC Bar.
Your “friend” probably had plenty of lawyers to choose from after his slip and fall.
LOL. Not sure I want one of those guys building an airplane though.
Al Jazeera Investigates – Broken Dreams: The Boeing 787
http://www.aljazeera.com/investigations/boeing787/
“The role of Al Jazeera’s Investigations Unit is not to report the news but to make the news.”
I just watched it. It’s pretty damning. It traces the whole thing back to Boeing wanting to build a new plane on the cheap. A few things I didn’t already know: 1) Boeing pays ZERO income tax. 2) A prototype of the 787 battery exploded and burned down a building 3) Lithium batteries do an awesome fireball thing when you shoot them with a bullet. 4) The Boeing CEO’s pension is $250K a MONTH yet he wanted to take pensions away from his workers
Thing I did already know: 1) Morale at BSC sucks. 2) Drugs are easy to find anywhere in North Charleston. 3) The “great” jobs Nikki promised us in return for millions in tax breaks are actually mediocre jobs, if that.
1) Morale at BSC sucks? You work there?
2) No kidding. Dorchester Road is a cesspool.
3) Mediocre? How do you know? Darla Moore School of Business research would disagree with you.
Rah Rah Yippee, Go BOOOOEING! How does that corporate cheer go again?
So that’s a no, you don’t work at Boeing.
Meanwhile, can you explain Dominic Gates’ presence in the video?
No, brother. Their starting pay is less than half what I make. But I know people who do, and we’ve had this conversation before anyway.
Yes, we’ve had this conversation before. Are you telling me that you are making $125,000?
LOL. $75K for an engineer, sure. I’m talking about assemblers. The last time I checked, their starting salary was $15 an hour.
I didn’t say engineer. Don’t put words in my mouth. Starting salary for an assembler at $15 an hour is pretty generous for entry level with no experience and a technical certification.
No, it’s a mediocre wage. I did blue-collar work without having any experience in Charleston and started at $17. And that was over ten years ago. Nikki promised “great” jobs from Boeing in exchange for millions in subsidies, not mediocre ones.
I agree it is a mediocre wage. But it’s something better than minimum wage as the unions over in Washington State claims that the BSC assemblers are making. This is with COLA adjustment which is around 3% and pay bumps, 401K matching / automatic, medical benefits, free training programs at Boeing’s expense including taking college classes, etc. If they’re not taking advantage of those things Boeing offers and stunting their advancement, that’s not Boeing’s fault.
I would dare say there are an awful lot of people that would absolutely love to start out at $15 per hour. Most beginner welders start a lot less around here (Columbia) and experienced welders make upper teens.
$75k is 50 % of $125k. Interesting math.
Oops. Good thing I’m not an engineer.
Wait. I was right. $75K is half of $150K. Whatever… The numbers he threw out are totally bogus anyway. He even admits that assemblers only make $15 an hour. That’s a far cry from $75K a year.
Again, you’re putting words in my mouth. I said “Starting salary for an assembler at $15 an hour is pretty generous for entry level with no experience and a technical certification.” That means for anyone who just JOINED any company starts with a starting wage or salary. You are earning an income of $30 an hour in a job that you’ve already established yourself in and have possibly earned promotions? That’s not starting salary though.
IF ONLY BOEING PAID INCOME TAX, 787 BATTERIES WOULD NOT BE MAD ENOUGH TO EXPLODE.
“… 1) Boeing pays ZERO income tax. …” NOT! That is total road apples. And every paid employee pays income taxes, too.
“… 2) A prototype of the 787 battery exploded and burned down a building …” A prototype lithium battery burned down several buildings in Taxifornia, too. And in Washington state. And lithium batteries exploding in the cargo hold of that Malaysian 777 that went down is suspected. And Apple cell phones have exploding lithium batteries, too.
“… 3) Lithium batteries do an awesome fireball thing when you shoot them with a bullet. …” So, is that what you do in your spare time?
“… 4) The Boeing CEO’s pension is $250K a MONTH yet he wanted to take pensions away from his workers …” BUT only if the Boeing SC plant turns a profit. This is contrary to state employees who get a taxpayer subsidized pension whether they screw up or not.
“For those of you keeping score at home, South Carolina taxpayers have given Boeing more than $1 billion since 2009.”
Actually it’s a lot lower than that. The only reason why Fits is incorrectly reporting this is because it’s a big figure.
The reality is that South Carolina has given directly a lot less than that.
Money from the State:
$270 million in up front money from the state. (Another $129 million for borrowing)
$33 million for worker training program
Money that Boeing does not pay due to tax breaks
$356 million in property-tax breaks (taxes that Boeing won’t pay to the state on property taxes. Charleston County Airport Authority is a state charter organization).
$47.5 million in state corporate tax credits
$100 million in additional tax breaks for components that are flown into and out of Charleston. If they didn’t fly components into or out of Charleston, the tax effect is still $0 before or after the fact.
Sic Willie don’t need no stinkin’ facts I tell you!!
Question is, how much money has SC, Charleston County, Dorchester County, Berekley County, and cities in the lowcountry made back from income tax, gas tax, property tax, phone tax, sales tax, etc. etc. from Boeing’s employees?
So you like living in a society which taxes workers but not corporations? Sounds like feudalism to me.
I’m living in a society that realizes that if Boeing wasn’t here, there would be no tax revenue from the employees in the first place.
You are right on the mark.
Actually Boeing does pay a tax. $300 per aircraft delivered. :) Then there’s the property tax which they will pay starting in 2020. Just because it says “$356 million” doesn’t mean it’s 100% off. It’s for the first 10 years which is tax free and then after that it’s for the 20 years after. So from 2010 to 2019, Boeing will pay $0 on property taxes, and then afterwards pay a reduced tax at about 50% of the normal tax rate accounting for inflation.
At the beginning in 2010, Boeing’s direct impact to the area was $1.3 billion to South Carolina (872 million direct and 251 million indirectly and $241 million induced) and labor income was $413 million directly, indirectly, and induced.
In 2010, around 5,725 jobs were directly supported by the acquisition and expansion which on top of that another 4160 jobs were indirectly supported in Charleston County alone.
Then they estimated that the direct impact from the Boeing expansion and presence would be $4.5 billion to the local economy, 700 million indirectly, and another 700 million from induced effect. Labor would bring another 1.2 billion to the South Carolina economy.
Now that’s only for 2010. From that point on, it was estimated that Boeing’s presence to South Carolina would bring $4.5 billion to Charleston County and the surrounding counties PER year.
Of course, Native Ink, you rather Boeing wasn’t here.
“… $356 million in property-tax breaks (taxes that Boeing won’t pay to the state on property taxes. Charleston County Aviation Authority is a state charter organization). $47.5 million in state corporate tax credits …”
One might note that those tax breaks and tax credits do not go on and on forever.
“… $100 million in additional tax breaks for components that are flown into and out of Charleston. …”
And that’s because taxes are being paid in other states and offshore for those components. You yourself would get these same tax breaks if you imported components for your own manufacturing plant = that is not a tax break / give away to Boeing (or anyone else).
The very first problem with this tripe is qualifying Al-Jazeera as a media outlet. Any google search with AL-jazeera and scandal, reporters quit, caught lying, omitting truth and such results in more than a few hits. Bagdad Bob is their Walter Cronkite. It appears the Union and Qatar are partnering w/ Al-jazeera the “news outlet” to create influence against Boeing. The most laughable is the drug charges, like a Union wouldn’t force a company to keep someone dealing drugs employed through a long, long grievance process. Remember the Food Lion “scandal”? Who do you think was behind that?
Ok, so Karadion is obviously a Boeing executive or some sort of shareholder agitator so take the comments with a grain of salt.
When you look at the facts it begins to become clear that Boeing thought they could save $$ by staging some production at a union hating state but they never anticipated the low wage workforce would be so bad that it would end up costing them more money in the long run with shoddy airplanes and blown out timelines and budgets.
Even though the orders for the aircraft have seen an uptick and the marketplace appears to accept the plane is safe, Boeing is struggling to meet the demand to fill the orders to get back in the black using the S.C. plant. Add to that the FAA grounding (can’t remember the last time the FAA has grounded an airplane model for 3 months) and pretty much all of the customers reporting some sort of issue with the plane.
So, to sum up. Boeing is in a pinch to speed up production of a certified but unproven aircraft to make profit which means relying on low wage, lesser quality workers to cut corners and get the planes out into the world.
Would you fly on this plane?
“so Karadion is obviously a Boeing executive or some sort of shareholder agitator” ROFL. I wish I was paid like an executive or paid to be an agitator, dumbass.
“so take the comments with a grain of salt.” So where’s your research that contradicts mine? Mine are from actual primary sources which I’ve named a few.
“low wage workforce” What exactly is low wage? If you read on later in the thread, Native Ink, points out that starting salary is $15 an hour based on anecdotal connections.
“shoddy airplanes” What shoddy airplanes are you referring to? Do you have a specific frame in mind that rolled off the line that was “shoddy”?
“Boeing is struggling to meet the demand” No they aren’t. They’re at the planned 10 per month operating rate right now. They’re starting to slow down the 40-26 surge line in Everett because they are meeting capacity for both sites. Then Charleston is supposed to ramp up to 5 per month and then 7 per month by 2019 for a total of 14 together (7+7).
“Boeing is in a pinch to speed up production of a certified but unproven aircraft” What exactly is it about the 787 is unproven? There are now 185 787’s in flying circulation and it’s still going up. Boeing is supposed to deliver 15-17 787’s for the month of October.
“Would you fly on this plane?” Absolutely.
As I suspected, innuendo, smoke, mirrors and no fire. Not quite as bad as Food Lion vs Prime Time but close. Totally slanted agenda, lots of hype but nothing there. One wonders who Al Jazeera thinks this hit piece is going to o influence.
My thinking is that since Al Jazeera and Qatar Airways is owned by the Royal Family of Qatar, they were hoping to get a discount to get an even much bigger discount on future orders for their airline. Problem is that the backlog is backed up all the way to mid-2020. Boeing does have a problem. It’s the huge backlog that discourages customers from ordering more 787’s.
How much money are the Unions paying Fits to wage Jihad against Boeing?