So, Boeing pulled the rip cord after bailing out on the Soviet Socialist Republic of Washington, with our democrat and union-controlled government, putting the second 787 line in ol' South Carolina.
And who can blame them?
Given the choice between setting up a huge business expansion here in the land of regulation, permits, unions, taxes and fees and South Carolina, is their ANY possibility that anyone would stay here?
With the move of corporate HQ into the hell-hole scum pit known as Chicago, Boeing sent the governmet of this state a message... a message our leftist leaders, who've been taking the Lazy B for granted for decades, chose to ignore.
Well, democrats and unions... have you heard THIS message?
« Boeing holds emergency meeting for 787 employees | Main | Boeing says why it picked South Carolina »
A worker walks past one of Boeing's 787 Dreamliners at the production facility in Everett. A second production line for the airplane will be going to South Carolina. Washington State hoped to land the second line. (Joshua Trujillo/seattlepi.com)
Boeing has decided to put its second line for building the 787 in North Charleston, S.C., not Everett.
"The decision has been reached," Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon told reporters in front of the Everett Machinists Hall.
Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon talks with Boeing Machinist Charlie Grieser outside the union hall in Everett after announcing that Boeing's second 787 production line will be going to South Carolina.
Seattlepi.com photographer Josh Trujillo reported that Reardon said: "We have to move forward ... there are still thousands of men and women who work for the company in this community."
Reardon said the the aerospace giant and the machinists have to continue talks to ensure that jobs stay in the region.
"We have to make a conscious decision in the state of Washington," he said. "Are we going to throw are hands up and say, 'We did the best we could?' ... the relationship between Boeing and Machinists have to be improved. We have to resolve those differences."
Boeing made the official announcement moments later. "Boeing evaluated criteria that were designed to find the final assembly location within the company that would best support the 787 business plan as the program increases production rates. In addition to serving as a location for final assembly of 787 Dreamliners, the facility also will have the capability to support the testing and delivery of the airplanes," the company said in a statement.
It said it remains committed to the Puget Sound region and that it will continue to build 787s in Everett.
The announcement ends weeks of speculation, debate and negotiation. Boeing and the Machinists union were reportedly deadlocked over a deal in which the labor group would promise not to strike should the second line be in Everett.
Boeing employees in Everett were disappointed by the decision and insisted Everett was the right place for the second line.
"We have the skill and manpower here in Everett to produce the second line, but we haven't been given that chance," said Zen Jenne, a union member who has been with Boeing for three years.
"I'm angry, I hurt for the workers, I think the company made the wrong decision," Gov. Chris Gregoire said at a news conference in Olympia.
Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., who was rebuffed by the company after she asked them to continue talks with union workers, said "I really believed that the two sides could've come together and had a good deal for both Boeing and the Pacific Northwest, and unfortunately we can't reach that now," she told KING5 news.
"Very clearly, they were a stone's throw apart in providing some real job stability, which Boeing has been telling us a long time that's what they wanted. I thought there was time...to make that agreement and unfortunately Boeing saw it differently."
Workers at the South Carolina plant recently voted to remove the union from the North Charleston plant.
Boeing's engineering union blasted the decision, saying it "will hurt a program already stretched to its limit."
"We are astounded that Boeing has chosen to compound the problems of the 787 program by further fragmenting the supply chain," said Ray Goforth, executive director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), IFPTE Local 2001. "There is no credible business case for this decision."
A number of SPEEA-represented engineers and technical workers are already in South Carolina. Goforth said the union will follow members and the work as Boeing expands operations in Charleston for the new 787 line.
State lawmakers just completed an incentive package to bring the line to South Carolina.
Meanwhile, Washington state officials, including U.S. Sen. Patty Murray and Gov. Chris Gregoire, urged Boeing and the Machinists to keep talking.
South Carolina officials reacted with glee at the announcement.
Gov. Mark Sanford called it the largest infusion of jobs and capital investment in that state's history.
He said it "represents not only enormously good news for our state's economy, but also a telling dividend from our state's continued efforts to better our business climate. For us, that means lowering taxes, easing regulatory burdens in our state's tort and workers' compensation systems, and keeping South Carolina a right-to-work state." Sanford said.
In Everett, Charlie Grieser, a 767 quality team leader and a member of the Aerospace Machinists union, said he felt betrayed by Boeing.
He noted that the company was given about $3 billion in tax breaks in 2003 to build the 787 in Washington state.
"They were given that money to build the 787 here. Not half the 787 here," Grieser said, a 32-year company veteran. "I think this is going to poison all of the state on Boeing."
No comments:
Post a Comment