This editorial will appear in Thursday’s print edition.

Politicians may play the eternal optimists, but even they couldn’t feign surprise at Wednesday’s announcement that Boeing will begin assembling commercial jets omewhere other than Washington state.

Boeing hardly could have been more clear about its intentions to locate the second 787 Dreamliner production line elsewhere. By the time the workers at its newly acquired assembly plant in South Carolina voted to decertify their union last month, the decision was probably a fait accompli.

The chance to build planes without the threat of work stoppages that have plagued the company’s Puget Sound operation apparently proved too enticing to pass up. The tax breaks and low-interest loans approved by South Carolina lawmakers this week may have just been the sweeteners.

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This editorial will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

No union likes having its back against the wall, but that seems to be where the Machinists union stands right now on the question of keeping 787 Dreamliner production in Washington.

Boeing has been ostentatiously talking to South Carolina about building a second 787 factory line in Charleston – in a nonunion plant – instead of Everett, where the plane is now being assembled. South Carolina lawmakers are offering the aerospace company a sweet package of incentives. Boeing’s Chicago-based corporate leaders are within days of deciding between Everett and Charleston.

Meanwhile, company and union leaders have been quietly discussing Boeing’s central condition for sticking with Everett: a no-strike guarantee good for 10 years. The Seattle Times reported Tuesday that those talks aren’t making much progress.
Boeing is reportedly pushing for what in most cases would seem a reasonable alternative: binding arbitration.

Like any union, though, the Machinists are loath to give up their nuclear weapon. They’ve reportedly also thrown another – far bigger – issue into the mix, pushing for a promise that the successors to the 737 and 777 will also be built in this state.
The union appears to be putting more chips on the table than its cards warrant. Keeping 787 production here seems a large enough goal without throwing the 737 and 777 replacements into the deal.
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This editorial will appear in Wednesday’s print edition.

The state’s new report trumpeting Washington’s aerospace advantages reads as if it were written by people convinced the competition for Boeing’s second 787 assembly line is either in the bag or out of hand.

Here’s hoping for the former. Washington workers and businesses can ill afford to lose this opportunity.

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This editorial will appear in Wednesday’s print edition.

Boeing’s announcement on Monday that Scott Carson is leaving his post as CEO of the company’s troubled airplane business could be just the shakeup it needs.

Carson, who presided over the Dreamliner program that has broken company records for sales and delays, appears to be leaving of his own accord.

Analysts say the timing doesn’t indicate an ouster. The announcement comes days after the company had just restored some stability to its Dreamliner program by releasing a new timeline. Observers say that if the Boeing board were inclined to fire Carson for performance reasons, it would have done so long ago.

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