Boeing's Back to WorkWith 100% of union halls reporting, the IAM has voted 74% in favor of the new four-year contract. The strike officially ended last night with the beginning of third shift after 57-days. Analysts estimated $100-120 million in lost revenue daily. This could translate into $5.7 to $6.8 billion in deferred revenue that will eventually be recovered once the delayed aircraft are delivered.
Oh right, there's another election on Tuesday...
Tuesday is ELECTION DAY. Just in case you've been in a coma for the last two years, Sen. Barack Obama is the Democratic Nominee and Sen. John McCain is the Republican nominee.
They've got issues
As far as aerospace and aviation issues go in this campaign, they've been pretty low priority on the list. Though here's a smattering of other people's assessments of the candidate's positions and proposals:
- Aviation/Political Blogger Evan Sparks: Obama and McCain aviation plans. Discussed by advisors.
- Obama Campaign: Transportation Policy Paper (PDF)
- Seattle Times: Air Force tanker deal may hinge on next president
- Chicago Business Daily: Air Force One likely Boeing's next dogfight
- FlightBlogger: Politics and Planes and Biden as Obama VP
- Popular Mechanics: McCain and Palin Chart Separate Course From Obama on Aviation
- Flight International: Comment: Banking on a new president keeping up defences
- Aviation Week: McCain's and Obama's Aerospace and Aviation Plans
- USA Today: Evaluating McCain and Obama on travel issues
Also a quick look at fundraising data supplied by opensecrets.org shows some interesting contribution trends from aviation related interests:
The Air Transport Industry (Eg. airlines, advocacy groups) has donated $368,146 to Sen. Obama and $521,684 to Sen. McCain. The Defense Aerospace Industry (e.g. Lockheed, Boeing, Honeywell) has contributed $251,297 to Obama and $199,144 to McCain. Opensecrets.com only has a breakdown of select companies and their contributions, which include donations from individuals employed by those companies, as well as contributions from their respective political action committees. UPS, FedEx, GE, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and AMR (American Airlines) are amongst the top contributors to both candidates.
MAKE SURE TO VOTE
Lastly, make sure to vote tomorrow - November 4th! I'm voting at my local library tomorrow to put some weight behind Washington, D.C.'s 3 electoral votes.
Where do I cast my ballot? Find out here.
Don't know when the polls close? Find out here.
on November 3, 2008 3:01 PM | Reply
Well I get the higher contributions to Obama from UPS and AMR considering their presence in Chicago. I wonder why FDX gave so much more to McCain and GE and BA gave so much more to Obama.
on November 3, 2008 4:45 PM | Reply
would boeing giving more to Obama have anything to do with the tanker choice?
on November 3, 2008 11:42 PM | Reply
BA has its HQ in Chicago. GE leans left...owns NBC and MSNBC aka DNCTV.
Fred Smith, CEO of FDX, is a well known Republican. He was on the short list to be McCain's VP nominee and is mentioned as a possible SecTransportation under McCain.
on November 4, 2008 12:54 AM | Reply
It is a known fact that John McCain directly and indirectly blocked Boeing from getting air force's tanker contract. Why would Boeing support known enemy?
on November 4, 2008 2:11 AM | Reply
"which include donations from individuals employed by those companies, as well as contributions from their respective political action committees."
An individuals choice, may not represent the interests of the company. It's just who they work for. In my opinion, you would need a break down of these numbers to read anything into it. How much from higher level executives? or political action committees?