ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI-FOX2now.com) -
There is a new rally cry from Boeing workers: save our jobs and we can save St. Louis's economy. Proposed cuts in national defense spending could put tens of thousands of people out of work in Missouri and Illinois. But at a rally Sunday, both political parties promised to fight the cuts, and keep the jobs. "There's too much on the line to let them close, and believe it or not that's what people in Washington want to do. They want to shut this big company down and send these jobs somewhere else, like to make windmills in Texas. And we're not gonna let it happen," said a passionate Bob Soutier, president of the Greater St. Louis Labor Board.
Boeing is one of St. Louis's economic crown jewels and two of Boeing's crown jewels are in jeopardy. The defense department budget proposes serious cutbacks in the number of C-17 transport planes and FA-18 super hornets, both built in St. Louis. If those planes go away, jobs do too. Soutier says there could be 40 thousand job cuts at Boeing and related companies. And then there is the money: an estimated $2 billion dollar loss to Missouri.
That's frightening for the mayor of Hazelwood, a city that lost thousands of jobs to the crumbling auto industry, and now on the verge of losing more. "A percentage of those people live in the city of Hazelwood and they shop and spend their payroll in the city of Hazelwood and that affects us on our retail taxes also," says Mayor Matthew Robinson.
The rally in Bridgeton brought together both of Missouri's senators, both vowing to fight to keep Missouri jobs safe.
"What we're here today to say to the President is we need more planes, not less. Our troops deserve it," says U.S. Senator Kit Bond, (R) Missouri. "What happens to them on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan depends on what happens in St. Louis and St. Charles. Without you doing your jobs, they cannot do their jobs."
U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, (D) Missouri, agrees.
" Senator Bond and I both shake our heads. They're flying the wings off that C-17, keeping our men and women and our fighting machines in order in Iraq and Afghanistan," she says. "The admiral of the navy said under oath the F-18 is the backbone of the military."
Boeing is one of St. Louis's economic crown jewels and two of Boeing's crown jewels are in jeopardy. The defense department budget proposes serious cutbacks in the number of C-17 transport planes and FA-18 super hornets, both built in St. Louis. If those planes go away, jobs do too. Soutier says there could be 40 thousand job cuts at Boeing and related companies. And then there is the money: an estimated $2 billion dollar loss to Missouri.
That's frightening for the mayor of Hazelwood, a city that lost thousands of jobs to the crumbling auto industry, and now on the verge of losing more. "A percentage of those people live in the city of Hazelwood and they shop and spend their payroll in the city of Hazelwood and that affects us on our retail taxes also," says Mayor Matthew Robinson.
The rally in Bridgeton brought together both of Missouri's senators, both vowing to fight to keep Missouri jobs safe.
"What we're here today to say to the President is we need more planes, not less. Our troops deserve it," says U.S. Senator Kit Bond, (R) Missouri. "What happens to them on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan depends on what happens in St. Louis and St. Charles. Without you doing your jobs, they cannot do their jobs."
U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, (D) Missouri, agrees.
" Senator Bond and I both shake our heads. They're flying the wings off that C-17, keeping our men and women and our fighting machines in order in Iraq and Afghanistan," she says. "The admiral of the navy said under oath the F-18 is the backbone of the military."
