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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neeka who wrote (331152)	10/28/2009 7:37:04 PM
From: KLP	2 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793991

And More: Who's to blame for losing the second 787 line? The crime has gone down. South Carolina, not Washington, will get the second 787 line and perhaps much more. So round up the usual suspects... Jon Talton Special to The Seattle Times seattletimes.nwsource.com The crime has gone down. South Carolina, not Washington, will get the second 787 line and perhaps much more. So round up the usual suspects and lay out the charges. • The Machinists: Da lazy, overpaid union goons refused to give Boeing the labor stability it needed to compete in a global market. Reality: Unions are often inept at slickly framing issues, so they usually come out as the bad guys. In retrospect, the Machinists overreached with their 2008 strike, giving Boeing executives a good excuse to do what they already were inclined to: Seek a nonunion place to grow. Meanwhile, whether national or local negotiators were to blame, the refusal to accept a no-strike agreement was a blunder. Capital, not labor, holds power now, and union leaders should have been focused on preserving jobs and buying time rather than engaging in 1958 tactics. • The governor: Chris Gregoire was passive and late to the game, while South Carolina aggressively courted Boeing and approved special incentives to make the deal happen. Reality: Sadly, true. Gregoire especially stumbled by not using her credibility with the union to force it to give Boeing the assurance it sought. • Washington's bad business climate: This is an expensive, high tax, high regulation state. Expect more companies to flee. Reality: Washington has one of the nation's better business climates, and it has been hurt much less by the Great Recession than most. Boeing received special tax breaks and other incentives to build the original 787 line here. Can the climate be made better? Yes. But that won't happen by trying to lower the living standards and quality of life of Washingtonians to those of a poor Southern state. This is a high-quality state, and quality costs money. But it's competing in a hungry world with an oversupply of labor. • Boeing: This is not your parents' innovative, Seattle-centric Boeing. It's been taken over by a McDonnell Douglas do-it-on-the-cheap culture. Engineering and research and development were given a back seat to marketers and bean counters. It has no loyalty to the Puget Sound region. Reality: Again, sadly true. Boeing is making a big mistake, and not just because of the hurricanes that tend to slam into Charleston. The former Vought plant acquired by Boeing as its Carolina beachhead was one of the worst epicenters of outsourced Dreamliner crackups. Expect a busy pipeline of Puget Sound-area employees flying to North Charleston to try to make this gambit work, and in the process slowly eliminate their own jobs. (Tip: Enjoy the rocking chairs at the Charlotte airport while waiting for your commuter connection). Boeing's top executives bear the biggest blame for delays on the Dreamliner, the 747-8, the original scandal-sunk tanker contract, and Boeing's tarnished reputation. So far, they have evaded accountability. Such is the lineup. You can decide who should be convicted. Tomorrow, the Puget Sound region wakes up to a new competitive reality and the question of how to leverage one of the world's great aerospace talent clusters. Maybe it's time to court Airbus. You may reach Jon Talton at jtalton@seattletimes.com 8888888888888888 Boeing rejects Murray offer on further talks Sen. Patty Murray is making a last-ditch effort this morning to revive the talks between Boeing and the Machinists union to save the second 787 line for Everett. By Dominic Gates Seattle Times aerospace reporter seattletimes.nwsource.com A statement from Boeing this morning appears to reject an offer by Sen. Patty Murray to revive the talks between Boeing and the Machinists union in a last-ditch effort to save the second 787 line for Everett. "No decision has been made" between Charleston, S.C., and Everett, said Boeing spokesman Tim Healy. "But we have the information we need to make the decision. We were very clear with the union about when we needed their best and final offer." Healy said he could not offer any clarification beyond that statement. But the clear implication is that Murray's attempt earlier this morning to revive the talks has come too late. Earlier this morning, Murray's spokeswoman Alex Glass described what sounded like a Hail Mary pass. "The Senator has placed calls to the Machinists and Boeing, asking them to sit down in her office," Glass said. "The machinists have agreed. We are waiting to hear back from the company." Murray was involved in facilitating talks between the two sides over the past weekend. There was no indication that the new effort would succeed. A person close to the talks late Tuesday said they were effectively dead and that Boeing was likely to choose Charleston, S.C. for the second line. "We're giving it everything we've got," Glass said. "The Senator feels there is still room for negotiation. For the good of our workforce and the company, she wants to make sure that they talk again."