Boeing Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Jim McNerney said he is confident that the company will win its legal battle over the decision to build a commercial-airplane factory in South Carolina.
"We're in a strong position and are absolutely confident that we will prevail in terms of the law," he said in an interview at the Paris Air Show. "But it has the potential to drag out for years."
Lawyers from Boeing and its main union met at a hearing in Seattle last week. Administrative Law Judge Clifford Anderson urged both sides to reach a settlement but nothing was immediately resolved.
"There is always a possibility of some settlement," Mr. McNerney said Monday. But "all of the ideas that have been floated so far compromise" the best interests of Boeing shareholders, he said.
Mr. McNerney didn't discuss specific ideas. The U.S. National Labor Relations Board has proposed that Boeing shift work from its nonunion factory in South Carolina to union facilities in Washington state, an idea the company rejected. Mr. McNerney in the interview said he won't yield on the principle that companies be allowed to decide where to do business.
The new factory in South Carolina is integral to Boeing's plans to increase production of its forthcoming 787 Dreamliner. The primary Dreamliner assembly line is in Everett, Wash., north of Seattle, within Boeing's main wide-body-jet factory. The Everett factory employs union workers from the International Association of Machinists, which initiated the NLRB complaint.
Boeing's South Carolina factory, which is scheduled to start assembling planes next month, is slated to build three Dreamliners a month by late 2013. Everett is expected to build seven Dreamliners monthly by then.
The NLRB alleged that Boeing decided to locate the second Dreamliner line in South Carolina in retaliation for a three-month strike in Washington in 2008 that crippled the company's production lines.
Boeing, which is based in Chicago, denied the allegation. The company has said it didn't take union jobs from the Puget Sound area of Washington when it chose to open the new facility, simply adding new ones in South Carolina. The company pointed to union jobs created in Puget Sound in recent years as Boeing increased production on commercial aircraft generally.
The company will need to make major business decisions in the coming months as it decides the future of the best-selling 737 single-aisle jet and the successful 777 long-distance model. Boeing is leaning toward building a new small jet to replace the 737, an expensive undertaking that would require a significant increase in its work force and the construction of at least one new factory. Boeing executives have said it is too early in the process to make decisions on specific employment needs or possible locations.
Mr. McNerney said the NLRB case will have no impact on Boeing's strategic plans. "We are confident enough of our position that it won't influence our decisions at all," he said. Boeing hasn't said where it would build a new plane if it goes ahead with the 737 project.
Jim Albaugh, president and chief executive of Boeing's commercial-airplane unit, said Monday that because of its highly-skilled work force, Washington is "clearly at the top of the list of places we look at" when considering new projects. Mr. Albaugh was appearing at a news briefing with Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire.
"We're in a strong position and are absolutely confident that we will prevail in terms of the law," he said in an interview at the Paris Air Show. "But it has the potential to drag out for years."
Lawyers from Boeing and its main union met at a hearing in Seattle last week. Administrative Law Judge Clifford Anderson urged both sides to reach a settlement but nothing was immediately resolved.
"There is always a possibility of some settlement," Mr. McNerney said Monday. But "all of the ideas that have been floated so far compromise" the best interests of Boeing shareholders, he said.
Mr. McNerney didn't discuss specific ideas. The U.S. National Labor Relations Board has proposed that Boeing shift work from its nonunion factory in South Carolina to union facilities in Washington state, an idea the company rejected. Mr. McNerney in the interview said he won't yield on the principle that companies be allowed to decide where to do business.
The new factory in South Carolina is integral to Boeing's plans to increase production of its forthcoming 787 Dreamliner. The primary Dreamliner assembly line is in Everett, Wash., north of Seattle, within Boeing's main wide-body-jet factory. The Everett factory employs union workers from the International Association of Machinists, which initiated the NLRB complaint.
Boeing's South Carolina factory, which is scheduled to start assembling planes next month, is slated to build three Dreamliners a month by late 2013. Everett is expected to build seven Dreamliners monthly by then.
The NLRB alleged that Boeing decided to locate the second Dreamliner line in South Carolina in retaliation for a three-month strike in Washington in 2008 that crippled the company's production lines.
The company will need to make major business decisions in the coming months as it decides the future of the best-selling 737 single-aisle jet and the successful 777 long-distance model. Boeing is leaning toward building a new small jet to replace the 737, an expensive undertaking that would require a significant increase in its work force and the construction of at least one new factory. Boeing executives have said it is too early in the process to make decisions on specific employment needs or possible locations.
Mr. McNerney said the NLRB case will have no impact on Boeing's strategic plans. "We are confident enough of our position that it won't influence our decisions at all," he said. Boeing hasn't said where it would build a new plane if it goes ahead with the 737 project.
Jim Albaugh, president and chief executive of Boeing's commercial-airplane unit, said Monday that because of its highly-skilled work force, Washington is "clearly at the top of the list of places we look at" when considering new projects. Mr. Albaugh was appearing at a news briefing with Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire.
