Who to Blame?

So Boeing’s opening a second line in South Carolina.  Inevitably, fingers will be pointed. But at whom?  Well,

“Times have changed,
the economy’s gotten worse;
Boeing in South Carolina,
I just want to stomp & curse;
Should we blame the government
or blame the big old boss
or should we blame the union for the loss?
No, Blame Canada! Blame Canada!
With all their beady little eyes
And flapping heads so full of lies
Blame Canada
Blame Canada
We need to form a full assault
It’s Canada’s fault!

Don’t blame us
because they flee
they don’t like gutter balls
but they like Governors coveting Argentines
It’s about customers
everyone likes to say
but does that make it all okay?
No,  blame Canada
 Blame Canada
It seems that everything’s gone wrong
Since Canada came along
Blame Canada
Blame Canada
They’re not even a real country anyway

My son could’ve been a machinist or an engineer,
Instead he burned up like kindling on great Mount Rainier
Should we blame the matches?
Should we blame the fire?
Or the doctors who allowed him to expire?
heck no!
Blame Canada
Blame Canada
With all their hockey hullabaloo
And that witch Anne Murray too
Blame Canada
Shame on Canada
For…
The move we must stop
The line we want back
The Laughter and fun
SC be undone
We must blame them and cause a fuss
Before somebody thinks of blaming uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuus!!!!

Warning: Video contains kids with potty mouths singing.

Celebrating Taxes and Economic Development

OK, I’m going to continue my modest proposal/rant from yesterday about getting everyone on board if we want to truly achieve our vision for a prosperous metropolitan region. I was at the Leadership Tomorrow Economy Day today, where the 80 young leaders spend a day learning about our region’s economy, and it was fascinating to listen in on the conversation.

Waiting for Lefty

That’s a little agit-prop/unionization reference there for you 1930’s theater buffs. But speaking of unions, did you notice the news about the preliminary Ford-UAW contract the other day? And no, this is not another blog post about how you should totally register for the Prosperity Partnership Luncheon featuring Alan Mulally, since over half the seats are already sold and it’s still a month away (ok, now it is, I guess).

This caught my eye: “The deal with Ford prohibits the U.A.W. from going on strike over demands for increased wages or benefits, but it permits strikes over other issues or if Ford proposes cutting wages or benefits.”

You may remember that a lot of folks got upset when the idea was brought up that, potentially in exchange for certain employment guarantees from Boeing, the Machinists agree to add a no-strike clause in their contract. It’s a huge concession for a union, since striking is the ultimate leverage in a negotiation. Interesting to see that Ford got the UAW to potentially agree to something like that, particularly because – like Boeing – they’re in a relatively good long-term financial position.

And Then You Can Make a Movie About Building Planes!

If you haven’t been watching closely, you’ve missed the national trend of turning large industrial spaces into movie studios. This isn’t a new idea by any stretch, but unfortunately there’s a lot more industrial space these days, like abandoned automobile manufacturing facilities in Michigan. But it hits a little closer to home when you see that LA is making movie studios out of old Boeing Commercial Airline buildings.

The Sports Car of Innovation Speeds On

And the Puget Sound economy downshifts into high gear. Or something like that. I really need to learn car lingo.

Point being, I was just talking about the link between aerospace manufacturing, auto manufacturing and the knowledge economy of the region. And then Lamborghini makes a $1 million donation to support the school’s research into composite materials used to build both airplanes and high-performance cars.

Coincidence? Or the usual Prosperity Blog visionary economic policy analysis? You be the judge.

(BTW, because of the above linked article, I now come up in the top five when you google “Smartest Man Alive.” Awesome.)

What Will Alan Mulally Say at the Prosperity Partnership Luncheon?

So, like I mentioned, Ford Motor Company CEO Alan Mulally is going to be the keynote speaker at the Prosperity Partnership Fall Luncheon on November 13 (register now before it gets sold out!). And what’s even cooler is that he doesn’t do speeches, so it’s going to be town hall format; whatever people want him to talk about, he’ll just be riffing, like a mix between Phil Donahue and Drew Carey on Who’s Line Is It Anyway (ok, maybe not exactly like that). So, given that it’s open season, what is he going to talk about?

Who Writes The Headlines?

Talk about your buried ledes. Last week, the Governor and her staff met with the head of Boeing Commercial Airlines to present the “business case” (the comparable data on costs, quality of life, workforce, etc.) for why it makes the most financial and business sense that the second line of the 787 should be assembled here in Washington, and ideally in Everett. To be honest, the business case is probably second in importance for Boeing – behind the relationship with the Machinists’ Union and the stability of the labor situation – but it’s a good thing to make sure that management has all the facts.

Which is why it’s really surprising to me that the headline in the Seattle Times is “Boeing won’t get new incentives to add 787 line here.” Yes, it’s true that incentives aren’t discussed in the business case, but even the article acknowledges that “Boeing has repeatedly made clear this year that a key issue in the competition is its concern about the company’s poor relationship with the Machinists union and the number of strikes in recent years…”

Here are a few reasons why the “No Incentives” headline is surprising:

Let’s Talk Tanker

The Draft Request for Proposal document for the KC-X Tanker competition from the U.S. Air Force is out, as you probably know. And everyone’s kicking into gear, both insiders and the community. So let’s talk about why it matters.

A Lot of Different People Sure Care About Aerospace

And why shouldn’t they, right? I mean, if aerospace is really important to our region, as we know it is, then lots of different folks should totally stand up and support maintaining it here.

Of course, the outstanding question is whether they should do it together or separately:

Flying Tourism

Long-time readers of the Prosperity Blog know that we love to highlight all the various awards and rankings of our region. In fact, we even have a post tag to track it. So how could we miss calling out that the Future of Flight Aviation Center & Boeing Tour made the top ten list for aviation attractions in the United States.

You Get What You Pay For

As news swirls around about whether the Boeing Company is moving some of its 787 operations to South Carolina, there’s been a lot of comparing and contrasting of our two regions. And, of course, one area where they “beat” us is in labor costs.

The Importance of Op-Eds

I’m no media philosopher, but one of the interesting things about the much heralded “death of print journalism” is that it hasn’t seemed to change the newspaper op-ed as one of the go-to tools for trying to affect public opinion.  Certainly, we’ve seen quite a bit of that approach with regard to aerospace these days: this, this, and this, just to name a few.

And if there are lots of op-eds trying to convince people of something, then there’s at least a perception that people aren’t currently convinced. Which, when you think about it, is crazy!

What’s the Difference Between a Propeller and a Wind Turbine?

They’re both fan-shaped things that push wind to create energy, just one uses it to generate propulsion, the other makes electricity. Only one can be used to get the bad guy during a fight with Indiana Jones, though.

So, of course it makes sense that former aerospace manufacturers are turning to wind turbines as a way to put their capacity to work. There’s actually two stories in between the lines here, though:

What I Would Do If I Were the Boeing Company

So, a lot of hubbub has been generated with this purchase of the Vought facility in South Carolina, as I predicted. But if you look closely, there’s a parallel story going on about the labor contract and Boeing’s desire to get some no-strike language in place as a potential trade-off to guarantee that the second line of the 787 is assembled here and not there:

Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson said that tense relations between the Machinists union and Boeing are a No. 1 priority. “I for one believe that all options should be considered, including a no-strike agreement,” Stephanson said. The agreement could be for up to 20 years, he proposed. “I think a decision like that, an arrangement like that, would be the single most important thing to guaranteeing a second production line in the state,” he said.

That’s obviously a huge ask, essentially asking the union to give up its main leverage point, and the response has been neutral at best. It would certainly require a pretty big trade-off from the company. And that’s where my brilliant idea comes in*:

The Beginning of the End?

So this is going to spur a lot of
“Boeing is Leaving!” stories. They’ll go a little something like this:

1) Boeing has increased its investment and management of 787 manufacturing facilities in the South.
2) The South is generally “Right to Work” and that means there is less risk of strike.
3) Boeing has been talking about creating a second line of the 787 and now it looks like this is where that will be.
4) This is the beginning of the end of aerospace in Washington state.
5) A reference to the “last person to leave, turn out the lights” billboard.