The Militant - July 2, 2001 -- Boeing calls FBI into Renton plant

Vol.65/No.25 July 2, 2001

Boeing calls FBI into Renton plant

BY JEFF HAMILL
SEATTLE--The giant aircraft and military manufacturer Boeing called in the FBI to begin snooping around in response to what it claims is "suspicious wire damage" in as many as 10 Boeing 737 jetliners at the company’s Renton plant, even though most of the planes have been "fixed, ground-tested and flight-tested, and delivered to customers," according to the New York Times.

Wiring on three planes was damaged in early May, according to a Boeing spokesperson, who claimed seven more planes were damaged May 24. The company said cuts were made in places that are difficult to access. "Nobody talks to anybody about this except to the company or to the FBI," Boeing instructed its employees.

After raising the scare, Boeing official Doug Webb said such damage is "not common, but it’s not unheard of" and did not say the damage was deliberate. In fact, Webb told the Times that airplane wiring is sometimes damaged in construction, from pulling wire bundles too hard or from drilling in the wrong spot. But he tried to win support for the federal cop intrusion by casting this "information" about "suspicious wire damage" as if the company already knew a worker and union member sabotaged the planes.

In language that would be intimidating to workers at the plant, FBI spokesperson Ray Lauer told the Times, "Destruction of an aircraft was a federal crime, which would give the FBI jurisdiction. If the damage was criminal, the case could also be investigated by the FBI as a violation of the federal Hobbes Act, which forbids interference in interstate commerce."

Matt Bates, an official with the International Association of Machinists, the largest union at Boeing, told the Times he had no information about the damage and said the matter "doesn’t have any direct bearing on the union." He added, "Whoever did this is in need of help and should turn themselves in."

The last strike at the company was in February and March 2000 when the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace organized a highly effective 40-day strike. Administrative office workers are currently involved in a union-organizing drive at the company.

The company-FBI collaboration comes on the heels of the establishment of a national counterintelligence office in Washington with the stated purpose of establishing closer collaboration between federal cops and company security forces to protect "national security assets" such as corporate secrets.

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