Boeing Formally Protests US Air Force Tanker Contract Award

On Thu, 19 Jun 2008 15:25:49 -0400, John Smith wrote
in :

Norhtrup-Grumman announced the ground breaking for the Alabama assembly
facility will be next week.


That may be a bit premature.

Needless to say, American labor feels granting the contract to
Northrop Grumman will send too many US jobs overseas:

http://www.teamster.org/08news/nr_080619_1.asp
Hoffal Urges Air Force to Terminate Foreign Contract, Keep
Military
Jobs in U.S.

Keeping Military Manufacturing Jobs at Home A Matter of National
Security

June 19, 2008

(Washington, D.C.) – The Teamsters Union called on the U.S. Air
Force to terminate a $35 billion contract for 179 aerial refueling
tankers that it unfairly gave to a European manufacturer, and
award it to U.S.-based Boeing Co., keeping important military
manufacturing jobs in the United States.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm
of Congress, cited major errors yesterday in the Air Force’s
selection of foreign-built Airbus A330, including unfairly
skewering the selection process and misleading Boeing. GAO said
the Boeing tanker is less costly to operate, saving American
taxpayers $8.5 billion over 25 years.

“The Air Force should be ashamed of supporting Europe’s military
readiness and economy at the expense of America’s during a time of
war and economic duress at home,” said Teamsters General President
Jim Hoffa.

With the GAO’s scathing report, the Air Force has little choice
but to reopen the competition, at the very least. The contract,
worth an estimated $108 billion over 25 years, would support
44,000 new jobs at home -- at a time when the United States needs
them the most. The nation’s unemployment rate soared to 5.5
percent last month, the biggest jump in 22 years. Americans lost
49,000 jobs in May.

“Our skills, knowledge, technology and capital are being packed up
and sent overseas,” Hoffa said. “America’s economic power, once
the envy of the world, is being threatened. We are giving away our
industrial base under the guise of so-called ‘free trade
agreements.’”