The Seattle-area economy and Boeing

[MillCreek]

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20131107/BIZ/711089854/Inslee-Were-all-in-the-same-Boeing-plane-and-need-to-land-it

So it is going to be very interesting to watch how the Legislature, the unions and Boeing are dancing to see where the new airplane production is going to end up.  It would be a major hit to the local economy if more aircraft production is sent to South Carolina.

[Jocassee]

Not to rub salt in the wound, but...charleston's economy is doing great.

[Gewehr98]

I thought Boeing had departed Washington State?

[Azrael256]

Serious question: Is a mid-grade machinist worth $45k plus benefits?  I actually don't know, so somebody seriously tell me.

[Sergeant Bob]

I'm sure we can count on the union to cut their noses off to spite their faces.

[BobR]

I thought Boeing had departed Washington State?

They still have a pretty good presence here, but have divested itself of some parts. They had a plant here in Spokane that now belongs to Triumph Composites. Making parts for Boeing planes.

They (Boeing) have moved their corporate offices to Chicago.

bob

[Boomhauer]

Serious question: Is a mid-grade machinist worth $45k plus benefits?  I actually don't know, so somebody seriously tell me.

Yes, if not more.

[Balog]

Depends on local cost of living, but yeah a machinist should be pulling that down easily.

[MillCreek]

I thought Boeing had departed Washington State?

They have approximately 85,000 employees in the state and 33,000 in my county.  The company is still one of the major economic engines of Washington in general and the Seattle area in particular.  Thus my keen interest in how this shapes up, given that all those employees need healthcare.  We can really tell when Boeing is not doing well and is laying off people, the numbers of insured people going to the doctor and hospital drop dramatically.

[cassandra and sara's daddy]

didn't the union get weird when they started to go to sc? even though zero jobs were lost out west? they used the feds to force boeing to submit to extortion?

damn phone

[MillCreek]

Yes, indeedy.  The union and the company have used a variety of state and Federal regulatory complaints against each other. 

Right now, the key issues of contention in the Boeing offer to the union are:

It will take new employees longer to reach the top of a pay grade
The traditional pension system will be replaced with a 401(k)
More healthcare costs will be shifted to employees

http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20131106/BIZ/711079987/1005/Details-Boeings-777X-offer-to-Machinists-

With all respect to my friends, neighbors and family who work at Boeing, but this is fairly par for the course these days.  We can debate the relative merits of it, but the Boeing offer is pretty consistent with typical business practices now. 

[Tallpine]

They have approximately 85,000 employees in the state and 33,000 in my county.  The company is still one of the major economic engines of Washington in general and the Seattle area in particular.  Thus my keen interest in how this shapes up, given that all those employees need healthcare.  We can really tell when Boeing is not doing well and is laying off people, the numbers of insured people going to the doctor and hospital drop dramatically.

Lots of subcontract engineering and manufacturing also.

[Sergeant Bob]

Right now, the key issues of contention in the Boeing offer to the union are:

It will take new employees longer to reach the top of a pay grade
The traditional pension system will be replaced with a 401(k)
More healthcare costs will be shifted to employees

Hey unions! Welcome to the real world!
I used to be a member of the IAM, and about all they did for me was take my money and make sure the alcoholics kept their jobs. I was a machinist (Cutter Grinder Class A) and my neighbor was UAW and made about twice as much as I did (he made way too much for what he did, my pay was close to appropriate for what I did) putting 4 screws in a dashboard or pushing a button on a press and pulling the part out. He used to brag about purposely scrapping good parts, and he thought he was assuring "job security" by costing the company more money to build cars.

I used to deliver molten aluminum to an auto related plant in Racine, Wi., at which the union members refused to make any reasonable concessions whatsoever to the company, regardless if it led to the plant shutting down. It did.

[Waitone]

Rumors abound about the next Boeing move in SC.  Lots of noise about inquiries in the Charleston area which would be consistent with the relocation of at least some of the engineering function.  Other states are getting the same kind of inquiries.  We've seen the signs before.  A small startup operation eventually becomes the tip of a large spear. 

[French G.]

Serious question: Is a mid-grade machinist worth $45k plus benefits?  I actually don't know, so somebody seriously tell me.

They do where I work and we're not a real high pay area. Not great money actually.

I do reserve time with a guy who works for Boeing Charleston. They could perhaps care less about what happens to the Washington folks but not by much.

[RocketMan]

Living in Issaquah in the late '60s and into the '70s, whenever Boeing hiccupped the local economy tanked and people with PhD and Masters ended up pushing brooms for a living.  That was the usual gallows humor in those days, anyway.  It sure wasn't pretty.

[MillCreek]

Living in Issaquah in the late '60s and into the '70s, whenever Boeing hiccupped the local economy tanked and people with PhD and Masters ended up pushing brooms for a living.  That was the usual gallows humor in those days, anyway.  It sure wasn't pretty.

My Dad survived the great Boeing layoff of 1969-1972 and went on to finish his 40 year engineering career at Boeing in 1990.

[Scout26]

They still have a pretty good presence here, but have divested itself of some parts. They had a plant here in Spokane that now belongs to Triumph Composites. Making parts for Boeing planes.

They (Boeing) have moved their corporate offices to Chicago.

bob

Until the Tax incentives they were given run out.....

[Waitone]

Evidently tax goodies is what attracted Boeing to CHS. Due to the vagaries of SC "law" we have no real handle on what the real costs to SC are.