Boeing picks South Carolina for 787 line

Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer

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.

Reardon and Machinist
Joshua Trujillo / P-I
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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 our 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.


Joshua Trujillo / seattlepi.com
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Machinists Union District President Tom Wroblewski walks away from the podium after Boeing announced Wednesday that its second 787 assembly line will be built in South Carolina. He said "Boeing has betrayed our loyalty once again."

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."

Read more: http://blog.seattlepi.com/aerospace/archives/183489.asp

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Penny-wise and dollar foolish.

They still can't get the first line fully stocked and running, so they add another plant to compete for the same scarce, defective, and late parts.

They have a factory here at Long Beach Airport and it's in danger of becoming yet another shopping mall - the last thing we fucking need here in Southern California. :eyes:

Cheaper is better.

as the South does.

If you were running a large corporation in the US, wouldn't it be wise to spread out facilities to key states. Maybe a more economical way to buy influence than owning a Senator from a less than powerful state like WA? Boeing's interests can be represented very early in any future Presidential elections, no?

'nuf said.

:grr:

...notice that there's a correlation between the states that have this law and their political leanings. Southerners just love to fuck themselves don't they.

...they also love to fuck the rest of us in the process. Race to the bottom, anyone?

OK, I exaggerate, but not by much.

My wife and I just recently returned from visiting our son and his girlfriend a few weeks ago. We found housing to be very expensive, food is higher and they charge tax on it, car insurance is higher and this is from somebody who lives outside of Albany NY.

In all fairness, gas is cheaper, and so is electricity, and some of the beaches are nice.

An odd place to site this, actually, because land and all other things are cheaper anywhere else in SC. Unless they really need to be close to the port for some reason.

They will also have to incur the additional expense of educating workers who have been not at all well-served by decades of Republican mismanagement of the SC public school system.

...that state's history."

After his remarks the Governor took a hike on the Appalachian Trail and fucked his Argentinian girlfriend.

...and their track record on the 787 is less than stellar.

And they're two years behind on that already.

Don't take out any new mortgages on the strength of yer kewl new Boing-boing jobs.

cautiously,
Bright

union busting...........

Boeing will, of course, screw SC when it becomes convenient for them to do so.