A Bailout for Boeing

All hail the Special Interests! 

Screw the Taxpayers!

Thanks to a federal program lined up by their unions, local workers laid off during the current dip in employment at Boeing Commercial Airplanes will enjoy a financial cushion that’s much, much plumper than what the average unemployed state resident gets.

(*GRITTING MY TEETH*)

“Compared to what Joe Worker gets when they get laid off, our members have a pretty extensive safety net,” said Connie Kelliher, spokeswoman for the International Association of Machinists (IAM).

* VIA GOVERNMENT... VIA SPECIAL INTEREST BAILOUT...

The U.S. Department of Labor has approved Boeing workers — union or non-union, production workers or engineers — laid off between April 2012 and June 2015 for a package of benefits that includes drawing unemployment pay for up to 2½ years, rather than the regular six months.

* GEEZUS... F--KING... CHRIST...

The Labor Department ruling also means that if laid-off Boeing workers need to travel, say to California, for a job interview, the government will reimburse 90 percent of the costs.

* GEEZUS... F--KING... CHRIST...

If they relocate for a new job, the government will pay 90% of their moving expenses and provide an additional lump-sum relocation allowance of up to $1,250.

* GEEZUS... F--KING... CHRIST...

While unemployed, they’ll also get a tax credit for nearly three-quarters of their health-care premiums. And they’re eligible for a grant of up to $25,000 toward the cost of a degree.

* GEEZUS... F--KING... MARY... AND JOSEPH...

And for those workers over 50, if they have to take a lower-paid job after leaving Boeing, the government will provide up to $10,000 over two years in supplementary pay to make up some of the difference.

(*GNASHING MY TEETH*)

All these benefits flow because the Labor Department recently granted the IAM’s petition for federal aid under the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program, which is designed to assist U.S. workers who have lost their jobs as a result of overseas trade or outsourcing.

* BUT IT'S THE GOVERNMENT THAT SETS TRADE POLICY...!!!

And after a parallel petition from the white-collar union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), the government broadened the approval to include all Boeing Commercial Airplanes workers, even non-union employees.

* THIS... IS... INSANE...!!!

The Department of Labor explained the decision by saying the company’s job losses here can be attributed to outsourcing because Boeing has acquired aircraft parts from foreign countries, “which contributed importantly to worker group separations.”

* SO...??? AGAIN... IT'S GOVERNMENT POLICY THAT CREATES THIS VERY REALITY THAT LEADS TO BOEING ACQUIRING AIRCRAFT PARTS FROM FOREIGN COUNTRIES!

* FOLKS... NAFTA WAS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IN ACTION!

* FOLKS... IT WAS THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WHICH GAVE CHINA MOST FAVORED NATION STATUS...!!!

In addition to producing overseas airplane parts such as the wings of the 787, Boeing has outsourced engineering work to its 787 partners overseas and also employs about 1,000 engineers at its Moscow design center.

* THE MOSCOW DESIGN CENTER...!!!

* THE... MOSCOW... DESIGN... CENTER...!!!

[T]he TAA approval is timely because recession-generated federal emergency funding that extends benefits beyond six months for all the unemployed is winding down, with the final such payments in December.

* SO... JUST AS THE INSANITY IS BROADLY ENDING... (*PAUSE*)... NEW SPECIAL INTEREST BAILOUTS START. GREAT! WONDERFUL!

The substantial TAA benefits for the Boeing workforce are on top of extras that the unions had already negotiated with the company.

(*SNORT*)

Howard Rosen, executive director of the Trade Adjustment Assistance Coalition, which advocates for the TAA program...

* WHICH ADVOCATES FOR THE TAA PROGRAM... (HMM... AND HOW DO THE FINE FOLKS AT TAAC GET PAID...?)

...said Congress has reauthorized the assistance as a quid pro quo for the steady embrace of free-trade rules by a succession of presidents that have encouraged imports and outsourcing.

* SO... TWO WRONGS MAKE A RIGHT IN WASHINGTON...

(*LITERALLY FEELING SICK TO MY STOMACH READING THIS SH-T*)

“This has been the trade-off for giving the president the authority to conduct trade negotiations,” said Rosen, who helped draft 2002 reforms to the TAA legislation. “In exchange for that, we should help those people who are going to be hurt.”

* WHAT DO YOU SUPPOSE ROSEN MAKES A YEAR IN PAY, BENEFITS, AND PAID EXPENSES THAT BENEFIT HIM, FRIENDS, AND FAMILY MEMBERS? OH... IT'S GOTTA BE AT LEAST SIX FIGURES... BUT WOULD ANYONE OF YOU BE SURPRISED IF IT TURNED OUT TO BE SEVEN FIGURES?

(*CONSCIOUSLY RESISTING THE URGE TO RUN TO THE TOILET AND PUKE*)

According to the latest annual report for the TAA program, the Labor Department approved 1,134 petitions covering an estimated 81,510 workers for the fiscal year ended September 2012. That year, the program paid out a total $855 million in income support and $575 million more for training, employment and case-management services, job-search allowances, relocation allowances and program administration. That’s total funding of $1.4 billion, of which Washington state got almost $41 million.

* GEEZUS...

Rosen concedes that the TAA program, born out of the politics of trade liberalization, may seem unfair to workers laid off for reasons unconnected with trade.

* "MAY...?!?!"

“I would love to have a program ... that is given to all workers regardless of the cause of their dislocation,” he said. “But politically, we are not there.”

(*SNORT*)

* BUT HE'D LIKE TO BE "POLITICALLY" THERE. FORGET ECONOMICALLY THERE... FORGET THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF TRILLION DOLLAR PLUS YEARLY DEFICITS... FORGET THIS YEAR'S EXPECTED CLOSE TO A TRILLION DOLLAR DEFICIT... FORGET THAT WE'RE $17 TRILLION IN DEBT (NOT FACTORING IN UNFUNDED FUTURE LIABILITIES)... FORGET THAT AFTER ALMOST FIVE YEARS OF OBAMA POLICIES THE ECONOMY IS STILL ON THE SKIDS...

Indeed, the pressure today is to cut, not broaden, unemployment assistance.

* YES!

But Boeing workers are in under the wire. If the TAA is not renewed, benefits will continue for those groups already in the system, including any Boeing Commercial Airplanes employees laid off during the next two years.

* DURING THE NEXT... THE NEXT... THE NEXT TWO YEARS...!!!