Is it surprising that a publicly traded company is going to drive down quality to meet (or in spirit areospace's case - attempt to make) profits?

The union also has clashed with Spirit over whether machinists should ever be responsible for checking their own work. Workers say having separate inspectors sign off on individual work is critical for quality control; Spirit and Boeing executives say that technological advances have reduced the need for separate inspectors in some cases.

Bad bad idea. Do not let machinists sign off on a inspection report. The incentive to hide mistakes is far too great.