Third-World Mechanics Paid $2 Per Hour For Boeing, Airbus Jet Repairs

Chris Halsne
KIRO 7 Eyewitness News Investigative Reporter
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From engine overhauls, to drilling out rivets to fixing faulty flaps, Boeing and Airbus-made passenger jet repairs are increasingly being done in third-world countries. The outsourcing is definitely an economic threat to U.S. union workers, but KIRO Team 7 Investigators also found it's raising new concerns over safety.

Investigative Reporter Chris Halsne, recently visited El Salvador to find out more about a multimillion dollar jet repair shop called Aeroman.

El Salvador wants to rid itself of its guerilla war reputation and glean a new image: fruit-filled jungles, coffee plantations, Pacific beaches and the multimillion dollar business of repairing Boeing-made jetliners.

Our investigation found that Southwest Airlines, US Airways, Jet Blue and Frontier all pay Aeroman in El Salvador to fix up some of their aircraft. Delta takes part of its Boeing fleet for repairs to Guatemala, Guadalajara, and Mexico City, while taking others to repair centers in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taipei.


http://www.kirotv.com/news/27915082/detail.html

Feel Safe Flying On A U.S. Airline NOW!!!....This Country Will Never Recover Without Bringing These Jobs Home Mr. President...Please Amend or Repeal NAFTA

Scary!

game has to be dealt with head on.... I know immigration is on the Presidents radar, and he spoke about it recently in Texas, but all the closed door discussions will never deal with this issue that is driving some economy issues... Why would American mechanics work for two dollars an hour? They wouldn't, and if someone comes to work in America they shouldn't have to. And if a company moves it's business out of Country because the third world mechanic works for two dollars... Strip this company of any tax incentives...

I think they were all Boeing 737s. I'll go out on a limb... I bet those planes were repaired in El Salavador.

Any thoughts?

Roughly 25% of SWA planes are overhauled in El Salvador. The others are in Dallas, Everett, and whichever city AAR is putting them (OKC, Indy, Miami).

when the airplane was originally assembled,

That would seem to indicate they were built over a relatively short span. Did Boeing have a strike then? If so, who actually assembled them during that period?

Just guessing / wondering.

Airbus wouldn't be where they are today without the them, this particular aircraft just had shoddy workmanship that went undetected until the incident.

Lots and lots of "classic" -300/400/500's around that are not included in this group, they must have been built by the multitudes. I just read they had a strike in 1995 but I'm not sure what plane lines were affected. Wonder if it's around the time these planes were built. I could well imagine the intense pressure to put the kabosh on anything that might point to that, given the general stance of business against labor right now, especially Boeing. Sounds like a conspiracy theory I'll admit, but the small number of planes focused on seem to ask more questions than answer them.

just their 737 Classics that had not yet reached a fatigue inspection milestone that would have otherwise revealed damage. These planes are just junk and problems are to be expected as the fleet ages. They are being retired left and right despite being relatively fuel efficient and having modern powerplants as Airbus and McDonnell Douglas aircraft of the same vintage soldier on. Delta even retired their 737-300's before their 737-200's and the MD-80's which is less fuel efficient than the 737-300 remains in service.

Come the 1980's airlines were still suspicious of Airbus and their long-term viability. For many of the worlds airlines however the unproven Airbus A320 family was considered a safer bet than the first generation of CFM56 powered 737 that had already "proven" itself.

.....and I have no plans to in the near future. This is just another good reason never to fly. I know some have to.....I don't.
With corporations short-cutting everything they can these days, I won't put my life in their greedy fucking hands. I like to fly. My son-in-law is a helicopter pilot and we go flying time to time, and I really enjoy it. But, I know him and I trust his ability. I know about a dozen airline pilots that live here in our community of 1200 homes. Half of them I would never fly with.

saying the IAM drove aircraft repairs out of the country.

There was an in-depth magazine article about airlines offshoring aircraft repair printed a couple of years ago. Scary stuff if you have to fly.

One has to wonder about what kind of training and experience these technicians get that work for $2.00 an hour.

K and R.

because the FAA rarely inspects anything and lets contractors check their own homework.

I would rather be a passenger on a plane serviced by Aeroman in El Salvador than many here in the good ol' USA.

Most of the international MRO's used by US airlines are or were part of international airlines own maintenance operation. While the independent American MRO's are often extremely sketchy and themselves often employing foreign labor of either questionable qualification or no english proficiency.

In Tulsa and Fort Worth.

Without other airlines outsourcing to AMR they would be insolvent, they also have facilities in England, France and Germany.

Extremely impressive and their machine shop made me drool. Oh the possibilities!!!!! :D

I think this article is more alarmist to make the point other than anything else. You don't have to have your airplane repaired/serviced in "first world countries" for shoddy repair work to cause problems. There have been many cases of airliners going down due to maintainence and poor workmanship issues from US based companies. Although I believe I have not heard of any planes going down due to shoddy work from these dangerous Central American repair shops. Using the $2 per hour excuse to slam these companies is nothing more then just shortsightedness as the article simply does not take into account general wages and standard of living of the area. And attempting to paint world class repair facilities in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore's Changi as inferior just because they are not in the US or perhaps simply being in Asia is proof in the pudding that this article is very sub-standard.

However this article is very typical of many such sensational articles that pop up from time to time that always call into question the quality of work done by "foreigners" in the aerospace industry by pundits in the US and even Australia when Qantas's union tried to put blame on Malaysia and Singapore repair facilities when a number of midair incidences occurred on their Boeing 747's as proof of the dangers of these third world repair facilities. Even though the repair facilities in Malaysia and Singapore only dealt with the airline's B737 jets and all their B747 jets were maintained by their own Melbourne facility.

complicated work" sentiment.

Of course that still leaves the "OK, they're qualified to do the work, but they have the 'unfair advantage' of being poor" argument.

I guess living wage skilled Union jobs aren't worthy of comment?

That the standards of living and average wages paid to workers differ from country to country? A worker with the same qualifications doing the same job will have different pay in different countries; union or not? That's not for me to approve or disapprove. It's just a fact. If you don't like, there's ain't nothing I can do about it.

and literally are cheering the fact that these third world countries can get away with such horrific wages while the fay cat corporatists make thousands more PER DAY to make sure the maintenance on the panes we fly is the cheapest possible, damn the quality.


You get what you pay for, and as a Progressive Leftist Union member, it's unacceptable.

You are still ignoring the simple fact of standards of living in one area compared to another. I dunno if you simply brush it aside or it was by design in your argument. An odd job laborer in the US might make the minimum wage. But take that same minimum wage and give it to another odd job laborer in the third world; say Malawi and that Malawian odd job laborer would be celebrating. Same job, different area and thus different purchasing power. USD$10 might get you a quick fast food lunch in the US. That US$10 in Malawi might be able to feed an entire family. It's a fact whether you are a leftist union member or a rightist corporate raider; it make no difference. This unbalance of purchasing power is why some people can go to holidays and live like kings while back home they may be considered middle class. It is also why some people cannot go to other places for holidays. Like me... I can't go to Japan for a holiday as the prices there will kill me. A $40 apple to a Japanese accountant might be normal but to me it's an assault to my finances!

And where the heck did I indicate or seem to be in your eyes where I'm "literally are cheering the fact....third world countries can get away with such horrific wages"???? Where did that come from? I am neither cheering or moaning. Just stating facts.

And also again you seem to have glossed over what I have previously said. Just because a facility is located overseas and their workers are paid less compared to wage levels YOU are used to and expect back home does NOT necessary mean that facility does crappy dangerous work. If a Japanese machinist were to use that same logic you used then he might also argue that American Union machinist do crappy work because in Japan skilled machinist like him are more highly paid then their US counter parts. I seriously doubt you would agree that that.

In order for a fair comparison, you have to compare that facility with another from the same area or another area with the same living standards and purchasing power. You cannot compare one facility from a developed Western nation to one that is less developed and only use workers wages as the defining point in your view of quality. If you do that, your comparison would be skewed from the beginning.

" does NOT necessary mean that facility does crappy dangerous work"


Bullshit, it has been proven. Google is your friend.




And for you to assume that any of these facilities do better work than schooled, skilled, and trained American workers, Union or otherwise, is insulting to all of us.



Corporatists, they appear everywhere.


Have a nice cheap wage day. Go push your outsource/offshore dreams elsewhere.

Google is indeed your friend! But just from memory I know of quite number of air crashes caused by improper work in facilities INSIDE the US run by US companies. American Airline in Chicago, Alaska Airlines, Valuejet in Florida and I'm sure there is more if I really want to dig dirt up! Ironically I can't remember of any major air-crashes caused by these dangerous un-American facilities in foreign lands. Although I'm sure if I really research it I might find some to be honest.

And for you to assume that any of these facilities do better work than schooled, skilled, and trained American workers, Union or otherwise, is insulting to all of us.

Really!? WOW! Incredible! Eye Opening! Pick my jaw from the ground shocking! And you don't think that in other countries there are no proper schooled, skilled and trained workers union or otherwise?!? Even in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong. South Korea, Western Europe, Brazil (where they make planes... obviously very dangerous ones) or even Australia? Now that is insulting! To everyone. Are you going down the "If it ain't Amurican... it's ain't good" road?

Corporatists, they appear everywhere.

I sure hope you're not accusing me of being a Corporatists. That would be a low point in this thread.

Go push your outsource/offshore dreams elsewhere

Another WTF moment here! You telling me to get out of DU? The only thing I'm pushing are facts here. But for some, an inconvenient truth is best left to be ignored.

Have a nice low fact day!

:hi:

For the airlines, like the rest of corporate America, labor is getting farther and farther down the list -- like the standard of living.

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