Washington state leaders do not think Boeing was bluffing

Politicians are relieved and optimistic, now that union machinists have approved a new contract with Boeing, keeping work on the 777X in Washington.

In exchange for controversial changes in Boeing’s retirement system, eliminating the defined benefit pension, Boeing promised to keep work on its new 777X model in Washington. Boeing said it was looking at taking the work elsewhere.

“I don’t believe they were bluffing, no,” Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson told the Morning News on KIRO Radio. He thinks Boeing was seriously considering out-of-state bids. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee agrees.

“My view was that there was a very, very substantial risk, a probability that we would not have had this work,” Inslee told KIRO Radio.

The governor said the 777X could have gone to another state without the machinists’ new contract and the incentives package approved by the state Legislature last year.

In approving the deal, Stephanson thinks machinists considered jobs, the long-term future of Boeing, and the city of Everett.

“What would happen to our communities if we saw a significant revenue drop,” says Stephanson.

The mayor believes that a no vote would have meant a cut of 10,000 jobs by 2020 and a loss of revenue of 20 to 30 percent for the city of Everett.

The governor says it was crucial to win the work on the carbon fiber wing, which he thinks is the future of aerospace.

Some politicians actively called on the machinists to approve the contract, but Inslee resisted taking sides on the vote, asking only that a vote be held.

“I thought it was their destiny, they should be allowed to make a decision,” says Inslee.

Now, Inslee says Washington remains ahead of the curve on carbon fiber technology. Stephanson says the city and the region can look forward to decades of strong aerospace production in Everett and the state of Washington.