AR McLin
Thanx
Back in 2009, Boeing decided to put another assembly line in South Carolina, rather than in nearby Everett, having been shown "they could play desperate regions off against each other, " as Seattle Times economic reporter Jon Talton put it. Republicans faulted the Governor for not leaning more heavily on Boeing's unions to accept Boeing's conditions.
The problem was, quite simply, that Boeing determined that it didn't need to build here*. And that meant that effectively, the state had no leverage outside of giving the company whatever it asked - which would have meant taking on the unions.
It was a no-win situation for the Governor, but Republicans feel that she should have lost in a way that put the unions in their place (and likely driven a wedge between them and the Democrats).
* Update: In an interesting twist, the National Labor Relations Board has lodged a complaint against Boeing over this very issue, saying that: "Boeing was retaliating illegally against its largest union when it decided two years ago to put a second Dreamliner assembly line in a nonunion plant in South Carolina," according to an article in the Seattle Times.
One of the issues involved was strikes, and one of the things that Governor Gregoire was faulted for was not putting more pressure on the Machinists' union to agree to a no-strike clause in return for Boeing agreeing to keep all production in Washington. It's that very same issue that's now at heart of the NLRB complaint.
seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2014824...
Thanx
Back in 2009, Boeing decided to put another assembly line in South Carolina, rather than in nearby Everett, having been shown "they could play desperate regions off against each other, " as Seattle Times economic reporter Jon Talton put it. Republicans faulted the Governor for not leaning more heavily on Boeing's unions to accept Boeing's conditions.
The problem was, quite simply, that Boeing determined that it didn't need to build here*. And that meant that effectively, the state had no leverage outside of giving the company whatever it asked - which would have meant taking on the unions.
It was a no-win situation for the Governor, but Republicans feel that she should have lost in a way that put the unions in their place (and likely driven a wedge between them and the Democrats).
* Update: In an interesting twist, the National Labor Relations Board has lodged a complaint against Boeing over this very issue, saying that: "Boeing was retaliating illegally against its largest union when it decided two years ago to put a second Dreamliner assembly line in a nonunion plant in South Carolina," according to an article in the Seattle Times.
One of the issues involved was strikes, and one of the things that Governor Gregoire was faulted for was not putting more pressure on the Machinists' union to agree to a no-strike clause in return for Boeing agreeing to keep all production in Washington. It's that very same issue that's now at heart of the NLRB complaint.
seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2014824...