KPLU Local News
(2009-10-29)
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A worker climbs aboard a 787 at the plant in Everett, Wash.
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
Outside the Machinists union hall in Renton, a group of Boeing workers - some current, others retired - came together for a political meeting. But their conversation focused on the company's unprecedented decision: to start building planes in South Carolina.
"I think it was 2:18 pm."
Linnea Peterson says news of the decision came via email from Boeing's chief executives. She's now a SPEEA engineer, but says she put in 24 years as a Machinist on the assembly line. She was in a meeting with vendors when she got the mail.
"We almost had a moment of silence, while we took this all in, sort of dismayed when we got this news, because it popped up on the screen. And one of their comments was, 'well Boeing must be pretty confident about getting the tanker - because they need the space in Everett."
That was about the only positive thought coming from this group. Susan Sherry is a retired manager who says she worked her whole 36 year career at Boeing.
"My heart is sick, I can hardly go by the Kent Space Center without crying, with what's happened to Boeing here. It's not the same company "
The Boeing she loved was like family but people who still work there tell her it's not like that now. Her friend Emily Willaby agrees. She traces the change to the merger with McDonnnel Douglas twelve years ago.
"I mean from when .didn't really care about the company."
But more than anything, this group echoed the sentiments coming from higher channels as well. They're worried that putting work in South Carolina, rather than here, won't pencil out for the company in the long run. Doug Bell is a software engineer who works in flight test.
"I don't believe there was a good business case for them doing this, but they decided that that was what they're going to do. And I think in the long run it's going to cost them more money than save 'em."
One shop steward added that at least they won't be able to blame the Machinists union the next time there's a production delay. He thinks there's no way the 787 can fly by December as planned.
But the Boeing Company says the combination of lower hourly wages and the lack of a strike threat from the non-union workforce in South Carolina is worth the cost of creating a new line - in a state that is ready to train new machinists and hungry for work.
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