New | Boeing may move work abroad given uncertain future of Export-Import bank

Boeing Co Chairman Jim McNerney on Wednesday said the aircraft maker is actively looking at moving "key pieces" of its operations to other countries given uncertainty about the future of the Export-Import Bank, whose charter expired on June 30.

"We are now forced to think about this differently," McNerney told hundreds of executives and diplomats during an interview hosted by the Economic Club of Washington.

McNerney, who retired as the company’s chief executive on July 1, said Boeing might consider sites in countries that offer export credits, but gave no details about which operations could be affected or when the company had launched its review.

The International Association of Machinists District 751, which represents more than 30,000 Boeing workers, blasted McNerney’s threat to move jobs overseas. "The only Boeing job that should leave this country is his," said Jon Holden, who heads Boeing’s largest union.

America’s largest exporter, Boeing employs 165,000 people.

"Boeing’s fear mongering undermines the company’s remarkable products and it won’t win converts in Congress," said Dan Holler, spokesman for Heritage Action for America, a sister organization of the Heritage Foundation that promotes conservative policy and is one of the most vocal critics of the bank.