Posted on 11/11/2013 4:35:52 PM PST by mdittmar
EVERETT – Governor Jay Inslee signed legislation package of tax incentives for the aerospace industry Monday, clearing the way for Boeing’s 777X to be built in Western Washington.
The only holdup is the vote of the Machinist’s Union, made up of roughly 20,000 local employees, which will take place Wednesday.
The local chapter’s leadership acknowledged Sunday that approval is not a done deal, and that there has been significant push back to the proposed eight year labor contract.
Ray Conner, the president and CEO for Boeing commercial, said the company is not bluffing about moving the production outside of Puget Sound. He added that the company has to make a decision quickly.
The Dubai Airshow takes place next week and if Boeing chose South Carolina for the production site, for example, they would need to begin production on a new facility.
Senator Patty Murray attended the signing. Murray said other states are watching negotiations on the 777X closely and would move in if the deal falls through.
(Excerpt) Read more at king5.com ...
This is fun to watch.
I bet the union turns it down. I’d hate to see Boeing move production to SC, but I wouldn’t blame them if they did. The union leadership out here is nothing but a bunch of thugs and extortionists.
In my opinion.
So taxpayers have to pay to give special privileges to Boeing, so Boeing’s unionized workers can continue to benefit from their own special privileges. That’s about the state of things in contemporary crony America.
Well, it looks like Murrays deal for the ILWU coal terminal in Whatcom County is dead, so influencing the Boeing unions is going to be especially important. Murray lost the confidence of a lot Democrat environmentalists over the coal terminal and funding for the Gateway projects.
Whatcom County Republicans lost in every race again last week because of their support for the Murray’s coal terminal project, while the Democrats who opposed the project, have been gaining more and more power.
I received a letter from the chair of the Whatcom County Republicans that claimed that even the unions voted against the Republicans. The position before the elections was that the unions promised to support Republicans if Republicans supported the union jobs at the coal terminal.
“Ray Conner, the president and CEO for Boeing commercial, said the company is not bluffing about moving the production outside of Puget Sound. He added that the company has to make a decision quickly.”
As I recall, very similar words were used right before the last time Boeing made the move to SC….. They are ready.
In the short-sighted term that seems so, but consider the numerous companies and the people they employee that support Boeing. If Boeing leaves, most of those jobs will be lost as well. Furthermore, the tax situation in WA is not conducive to business and business employment.
I’m betting the union does the stupid thing.
For the privilege of keeping Boeing State Residents only have to pony up a 10.5 cent gas tax.
Fixed it;)
I’m hoping that the Machinists do the stupid thing. It is time to stand up to unionism gone wild.
Remember that it was the same IAM (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers) union that killed Eastern Airlines effective January 19, 1991. They rejected the Easter's “last, best, and final contract” that would have saved the company. All other unions had agreed to cuts and reductions, but the IAM refused. Eastern shutdown and everyone lost their jobs and every benefit they'd earned. I worked with UAW unionists for 23 years. They are this nearsighted and arrogant. You can count on the workers of IAM District 751 to be as stupid and arrogant as their UAW brothers and sisters. I think Boeing needs to leave WA; ditto Boeing Corporate HQ from IL. The last Boeing employee please turn out the lights and lock the doors and gate.
Opps, typo. Make it “Eastern’s” and not “Easter’s”.
That’s an amazing story. I’m sure they all thought that Eastern had secret vaults full of money somewhere that they would dip into if the pressure was just turned up high enough.
After they flew it into the side of the mountain, did IAM management have anything to say?
“That’s an amazing story. I’m sure they all thought that Eastern had secret vaults full of money somewhere that they would dip into if the pressure was just turned up high enough.”
Actually, from what I have seen over the years, it’s the oft repeated story. Just look at the unionized business sectors that are gone. Steel, apparel, shoes, furniture, you name it. You can’t even buy a GE toaster that’s made here. If it Had a union label, it’s gone! Now that the domestic automakers have been bailed out (and make no mistake, Ford came very close to joining GM and Chrysler) they will continue to leave the US as manufacturers. In fact I read recently where Ford has already stated that they will never build another plant in the United States.
In reality, unions are simply extensions of Marxism today, and like their counterparts in government “they can’t seem to grasp the fact that their way doesn’t work.” Coming shortly, the PE unions are going to be “discovering” that they’ve killed their own golden goose, when more and more government entities go bankrupt. And none of them will ever tell you that their “demands” were unreasonable as they stand in the welfare line.
Patty Murray is a “Twinkie”. Full of air, empty space and has sugar cream where her brain should be.
A few years ago, someone here at FR posted a black-and-white picture of a chained-shut factory gate with a big “CLOSED” sign hanging on it.
At the bottom was a caption: “Look For The Union Label.”
I don’t know if the IAM management had anything to say after their kamikaze mission. All the other union and nonunion people at Eastern — baggage handlers, ground staff, flight attendants, pilots, and office staff — were absolutely furious at the IAM. Everyone became unemployed and lost their earned benefits.
Is this Longview ?
A company builds a factory - or many factories - to make some sort of product. As they make millions and millions of copies of that product, they learn a lot about how to make that product well and efficiently. This learning costs a lot of money, and some of that learning goes into the heads of the production workers who actually build the product on the factory floor.
The company also invests a significant amount of their profits in capital equipment to make their product better-faster-cheaper. That capital equipment costs a lot of money and (at least in the old system) was very expensive to pick up and move somewhere else.
Over time, the learning in the heads of the production employees - and the huge amount of stuck-in-place capital equipment - grew to be like the trunk of a gigantic tree. The company was stuck in place. Couldn't move.
At that point, the union started to turn the screws. They demanded higher and higher wages, and more and more burdensome work rules... safe in the certainty that the company couldn't do a damn thing to fight back. This was especially true because politicians tended to pander to the workers instead of to the owners of the company for the simple reason that there were a hell of a lot more voter-workers than there were voter-owners. The politicians saw to it that the law favored the "labor" side of the equation over the "management" side of the equation.
All that began to change when the information revolution made it possible to capture the knowledge that used to go into the heads of the workers, and put that knowledge into computerized production machinery. That production machinery got smaller and more flexible.
Of course, the union management didn't get any of that. They thought it was all BS. This is basically because - even though they drew huge salaries and rode around in big limousines, the union management was really no smarter than the typical rank-and-file factory-floor guy.
Over time, the unions - unable to adjust to, or even understand - the new dynamic, saw millions of their jobs fly away right over the heads of the workers on the picket lines.
This happened in my neck of the woods over and over. The Fisher Body plant, a huge Miller brewery, and a 100-plus-year-old fine dinnerware factory, all closed their doors when the workers made one suicidal demand too many.
In the case of the brewery closure, I know for a fact there were some suicides up in the back woods. Guys who were used to making $35/hr with a high-school education (this was back in the '80s) suddenly realized that the gravy train was over. They had bought a brand new 4X4 every year or two, had a snowmobile for each member of their family, went on vacations to Disney World every winter, often paying for these toys with money borrowed against future earnings. All of the sudden the music stops, and there's no chair to sit on. Easiest thing to do is eat a gun, or put the garden hose in the exhaust of the 4X4 with the other end stuck in the passenger-side window and check out. Happened a bunch of times, although it didn't make the news media.
Unions basically try to hold the capital - both physical and intellectual - of a company for ransom, under threat of destroying the place if they don't get what they want.
The information revolution has made this much more difficult, though not impossible.
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