SPEEA: Boeing 'undermines' 787 by depending on foreign workers

With a few months to go until Boeing’s engineers union sits down for contract talks with the aerospace company, SPEEA leaders already are taking Boeing to task.

The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace say Boeing is putting its delivery schedule and programs at risk by not tracking foreign workers at its U.S. facilities.

In a press release, SPEEA said it is noticing a growing number of mistakes by inexperienced foreign workers at Boeing’s or its partners’ sites here in the United States.

Boeing partnered with companies across the globe on its 787 Dreamliner program. The jet has been delayed due to supply chain issues and trouble assembling the first Dreamliner in Everett.

A foreign worker for Italy’s Alenia Aeronautica failed to follow procedures while working in South Carolina and damaged a center fuselage piece in late June.

SPEEA starts contract negotiations with Boeing in October. Like Boeing’s Machinists union, SPEEA union repeatedly has expressed disappointment in the amount of outsourcing that Boeing has used on its 787 jet.