Boeing workers voice concerns about losing work to China

EVERETT — The public celebration of Boeing's ties with China went smoothly Wednesday, though privately some blue-collar employees in the audience of more than 5,000 for Chinese President Hu Jintao's address expressed concern about their future work being offloaded to China.

With 14 U.S. and Chinese flags as part of the backdrop, Boeing Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Alan Mulally and Hu spoke glowingly of the relationship between Boeing and China.

After the speeches, Boeing worker Paul Dernier, a 777 systems installation supervisor, presented Hu with a baseball hat sporting the Boeing logo.

Hu threw his arm around Dernier's shoulder as the two posed for photos in matching hats, then surprised the worker with a big American-style hug.

As he closed the proceedings, Mulally pumped his fist and shouted, "China rocks!"

Even as he did so, the sound of rivet guns could be heard starting up in the next bay, as if the workers there had decided, "Time's up, we've got airplanes to build."

In his short speech, Hu described Boeing's relationship with China as "a vivid example" of the mutual benefits of trade.

Speaking through an interpreter, he added, "I sincerely hope that the cooperation between Boeing and China will be even more successful in future and will further expand in scale."

Hu said that in the next five years China will need to add 600 airplanes to its current civil aviation fleet, and over the next 15 years it will add 2,000.

Counting the recently announced deal for 80 737s, Boeing has won 246 orders from China since the beginning of 2005, 96 of them for wide-body jets, according to the AirClaims CASE database. This compares to 232 for Airbus, only 35 of them wide-bodies.

Robert Miller, a 15-year Boeing veteran who works in the 737 wire shop, said China's growing economy means that "as soon as they catch up to us, they are going to be a power to reckon with."

But Miller is concerned about outsourcing. He said people from his work area are training Chinese workers in China. "There's a lot of animosity," he said. "People feel very bitter."

Robert Thomas, who has been at Boeing since 1988 and now works on the 777, said before the speeches that "With domestic air carriers failing, if it weren't for Asian companies buying airplanes, we'd be hurting now."

He added: "I think most workers here are resigned to the fact that [Boeing] will be building parts in other countries, but we don't want to lose final assembly here."

Tu Tran, a 737 wire-shop worker, came to the U.S. from Vietnam in 1978 and has been at Boeing 14 years. He welcomed Hu's visit and said he sees the opening of China's once-closed economy as a model for the future of his own homeland.

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com