Probe of Boeing Tab for Workers Sought

Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) has asked the Air Force to investigate Boeing’s decision to assign about 450 workers from its Seattle operations to the B-2 Stealth bomber program in Palmdale at government expense.

In a letter to Air Force Secretary Donald B. Rice, Cranston said he is concerned that Boeing may be “taking advantage of a loophole” in federal regulations by billing the government for the expenses of the workers’ temporary assignments to California.

Boeing is spending at least $10 million a year to house the workers in Palmdale, saying it cannot locate adequate numbers of local aerospace workers in Southern California, despite layoffs that have cost thousands of aerospace workers their jobs here. The practice was disclosed in a Times story last month.

Cranston asked Rice to start an investigation by the Air Force inspector general.

Boeing has already received harsh criticism in letters from Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, as well as other local and national government politicians.