Boeing vote raises questions about future of Frederickson plant

[unhappycamper]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/11/15/2893671/boeing-vote-raises-questions-about.html



At the Boeing Frederickson Plant in 2004 in Pierce County, Lee Biggs prepares a horizontal skin panel before going to Major Assembly. The long-term future of Boeing’s sole Pierce County manufacturing facility is in question after union machinists roundly rejected a proposed Boeing 8-year labor contract.

Boeing vote raises questions about future of Frederickson plant
By JOHN GILLIE
November 15, 2013 Updated 12 hours ago

At Boeing’s sole Pierce County manufacturing facility, its massive skin and spar and composite manufacturing plant at Frederickson, it was business as usual Friday, two days after union Machinists roundly rejected a proposed Boeing eight-year labor contract.

The proposed agreement was not about keeping Puget Sound manufacturing workers off a picket line this week — two years remain on the existing labor agreement that covers workers at Frederickson and other Boeing Puget Sound plants — but about the long-term future for the region’s aircraft industry.

Had union members approved the deal Wednesday, Boeing promised to build the next-generation 777X in Everett and its composite wings in the Puget Sound area. Now, without a labor deal, Boeing has opened up bidding from other states and countries for the 777X work.

None of the some 1,800 Frederickson workers will immediately lose their jobs because 67 percent of union members voting said no to the proposal. And a positive vote on the labor contract likely would not have brought big boosts to the employment there.

[pscot]

1. Whyever would the machinists object

to having their defined benefit pensions turned into 401k's? A little uncertainty in retirement is good for you. Trusting your fate to the free market keeps you mentally sharp. Very Darwinian.