Boeing's machinists overwhelmingly reject the company's offer to keeping the manufacturing of the 777 in Washington state. They cudda voted themselves the prize, but they prefer to be a contender;
"We preserved something sacred by rejecting the Boeing proposal. We've held on to our pensions and that's big. At a time when financial planners are talking about a 'retirement crisis' in America, we have preserved a tool that will help our members retire with more comfort and dignity," said Tom Wroblewski, District 751 president in a statement.
Boeing had proposed the eight-year contract extension, saying it needs the deal to assemble the new 777X in Washington state. With the threat of those jobs going to another state, lawmakers rushed to approve $8.7 billion in tax breaks last week.
"... Without the terms of this contract extension, we're left with no choice but to open the process competitively and pursue all options for the 777X," Boeing said in a statement.The state's politicians made it look like they were leading a parade rather than being ridden out of town--Boeing has already moved corporate headquarters from Seattle to Chicago--on a rail;
"This is a tough night for the state of Washington," Inslee said. "We could have had a big win tonight. We could have grabbed the brass ring for this airplane. But I want to say this, what we were unable to finish tonight, means that we are starting a new chapter of competition for this airplane."
Inslee said that Boeing officials assured him that Washington state was still a contender.Yeah, like Floyd Patterson after his first bout with Sonny Liston; he went from champ to chump. At least he didn't land the punch on himself.
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