Boeing, unions should listen to Richard Branson

Boeing, unions should listen to Richard Branson:

"As reported by the Seattle P-I's Dan Richman, Branson was at Boeing Field for delivery of a 777-300ER for an airline he's starting up, V Australia. That airline will begin Sydney-Los Angeles service later this month.

But Branson said the airline would have begun the service in late December, had it not been for the 57-day strike by Boeing Machinists that delayed deliveries.

'The strike hurt hundreds of thousands of our passengers,' Branson said.

'It messed up Virgin Atlantic, it messed up Virgin Blue in Australia, it ruined people's Christmas holidays. It was absolutely and utterly ghastly.'

Then came the stark warning: 'If union leaders and management can't get their act together to avoid strikes, we're not going to come back here again. We're already thinking, 'Would we ever risk putting another order with Boeing?' It's that serious.'

Branson's reputation for nonpinstriped behavior and speech notwithstanding, Boeing may have been taken a bit aback at the remarks, figuring that most of the attention would go to Branson's flair for showmanship (he was accompanied by a retinue of bikini-clad flight attendants, a style of dress rarely seen at most corporate functions in this country).

But Boeing quickly scrambled by e-mail statement to indicate the message had been heard: 'We never want to disap"