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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, October 30, 2009 It's mind made up early, Boeing's talks with Murray were for appearances Political analysis By Jerry Cornfield Herald Political Columnist Everett never had a chance. At least it seems that way now to Sen. Patty Murray. Months of quiet diplomacy on her part ended in disappointment when Boeing chose Charleston, S.C., over Everett for a second assembly line for the 787. Disappointing but not surprising. Signs of the company's intentions had been popping up for months say those familiar with conversations that Murray had with Boeing. Boeing executives only half-heartedly penciled in Everett for the coveted production line, discouraged Murray from rallying on the city's behalf, held bad memories of the strike and Gov. Chris Gregoire walking the line, smarted from battles with state legislators and purchased a South Carolina aerospace company. Murray heard firsthand on Feb. 9 about South Carolina's favored status from Boeing execs Tim Keating and Phil Ruter. Charleston topped the list of choices with Everett scrawled along the margin, its chances slim if not none. They suggested Murray not waste her immense political capital trying to alter the course of events set in motion by Boeing's big boss Jim McNerney. Boeing's plan for a second production line somewhere in America — the third will surely be in China — had gone from rumor to fact weeks before that February meeting. Everett's chances already seemed next to nil given the bitterness stirred by the Machinists strike in 2008. McNerney had reached wit's end with the union. He had shareholders pressing for profits, customers demanding deliveries and little patience for a work force eager to strike. Yet, he liked Murray and respected the gravitas she holds in the nation's capital. If she got deeply involved, McNerney was going to press pause on the process to see what evolved. Murray began in February working to open a line of communication between Boeing and the union. The two sides needed to be talking if Everett was to have any shot at besting Charleston. It wasn't going to be easy. Even if they did start chatting, Boeing wanted a guarantee they could run a second production line for years without fear of strikes. They called it a stable work force. They demanded a long-term contract ensuring no walkouts, period. They wanted 10 years of guaranteed labor peace. To ask any union member to give up their right to strike is heresy. To ask Machinists fresh from the picket line and full of mistrust for those running the aerospace giant is, well, crazy. Murray didn't go that route. She did urge union leaders to look at the big picture for the long haul and to hear Boeing out. She wasn't trying to mediate or negotiate for either viewpoint only to keep the conversation going. Boeing deliberately set the bar high. For weeks and months there was little movement from workers. Murray, meanwhile, kept in touch with McNerney, meeting with him in May and June. Neither side wanted lawmakers in the room during talks. So it left Murray, others in the congressional delegation, the governor and local elected officials to preach patience to both sides as Boeing signalled more of its intentions by buying Vought and securing development permits in South Carolina. On Wednesday, Oct. 21, the union did something Boeing never expected. Machinists reached up and grabbed hold of the bar McNerney thought was safely beyond their grasp. They submitted a “best and final” offer with a contract extension assuring no strikes through 2020. Workers had a few things they wanted in the way of wages, benefits and, probably most annoying to Boeing, a commitment from the company for future work at the plant. These were negotiations on a long-term contract extension so a counteroffer from the aerospace company seemed in order. It didn't come. Boeing went silent. Two days later, McNerney and Murray talked. Over the weekend there was a phone conversation between union and Boeing leaders. Come Monday, Murray was back on the phone with McNerney, stressing how success was in sight with the two sides within an inch of one another's positions. She felt confident the union would modify its stance if Boeing responded. McNerney made no promises. The next night, the eve of the decision, McNerney and Murray spoke again. This conversation differed from all their others. He told her a stable work force was not the only issue to be considered, though he didn't share what other issues concerned him. The conversation ended and with it all pretense of a second look at Everett. Murray's spokeswoman Alex Glass said this week, “I think Boeing was surprised they got as close as they did and may not have wanted to get to the finish line. “There was somewhat of a feeling the jig was up and if they sat down with the union again they might have got more from the union,” she said. Wednesday morning, Murray invited union and Boeing negotiators to her office, publicizing the sit-down to the media. Intuitively, she knew the decision was a done deal and Boeing would not show up. This was no last-ditch effort, this was a brush back pitch from a skilled politician. McNerney was to call her at 3 p.m. that day but didn't. He was on a plane to South Carolina. He phoned after 4 p.m. and Murray let him rest on hold while she considered her words. Framed on her wall is the first speech she delivered on the floor of the Senate in 1993. It was about Boeing, its history in the state and its roots in the people. Reading it again gave her a moment to get perspective and decide what she would say. She picked up the phone and spoke of how the Boeing she knew for years is not the Boeing she's been dealing with for months. She hung up, still one of Boeing's best allies in Congress where Washington's interests are at stake. There is really only one surprise in this week's decision: how long it took to be made. Political reporter Jerry Cornfield's blog, The Petri Dish, is at www.heraldnet.com. Contact him at 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Log in or register to post new comment | Log out McNerney's Decision A Slap In The Face ! First off, as for the last Boeing strike, Boeing welcomed it, because they had a whole ramp of 777 planes sitting outside that couldn't be delivered because of a lack of parts,(vendor related, interior items). The planes were completed, ready to go, but couldn't because of the vendor issues. At the time, this was a big problem and Boeing knew it so their 'out' was the strike. The strike 'down-time' would allow the vendors to catch up. A plus for Boeing, yet Boeing would use the strike and the union members as their scapegoats for the company's current heartaches and setbacks! I'm so sick of McNerney and his upper management blaming the company's problems on that one thing -- 'THE STRIKE!' There were a lot more factors involved. Fess up McNerney -- tell the truth! As for the current Boeing decision to send the 2nd 787 line to South Carolina, I believe this to be the grand scheme of things in breaking the union. McNerney made it his big game -- he played all of our state and local politicians. He played our union and it's leadership! As for all of the union employees, he just as well slapped our faces. Sorry, but as Boeing employee, I no longer find it easy to hold my head up high, with pride, especially when upper management acts like grade school kids, only caring for themselves and the shareholders. Lastly, Mr. McNerney, the MD/Boeing merger of ten years ago had a serious impact on employee morale -- and now, after this latest debacle, employee morale is as low as it gets! Ahhh... the games we play! Hope your happy, Jim! D M | Oct 31, 2009 12:33 am | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Naive or Stupid Anyone blaming the union is either naive or stupid. You're REALLY willing to drop wages and benefits, go back to outlandishly unsafe working conditions, and bow down before your corporate master because you fear for a job? Really? That's who you are? The REAL solution is to stop the corporate welfare. Impose heavy taxes on businesses that leave the country. Hold every single corporation to the unionized standard. How about we stop being bleeding hearts, looking at the poor company as the vitim, and just grow up? Companies want to pay the lowest wages possible. Allowing them to do that is what's at the root of the problem. Shame on the bleeding heart corporatists. Shame. Chantel Robertson | Oct 30, 2009 11:55 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Doesn't matter It doesn't matter what anyone would have done. The IAM strikeS (with an S), and the constant support of the strikers for their votes by our local politicans chased Boeing away. Saying sorry and talking nice after the fact isn't enough. It's a shame, our politicans can side with business that brings jobs and money to the state, or they can side with greedy union strikaholics chasing said businesses out of the state. Who do they choose? That Guy | Oct 30, 2009 11:05 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal Why the Apologetic Tone? Why are the local papers opining about how Gregoire and Murray did their best but just couldn't get it done? Gregoire was an utter non-factor--her gratuitous indulgence of the state's labor unions makes her the absolute wrong person at the right time as she couldn't tell the Machinists that they needed to swallow their arrogance and sign a no-strike agreement right away after their fiasco of a strike ruined the 787 project's resuscitation and their role in it. Murray's running shoes are for quickly catching up to and comically failing to address any issue that should have been on her radar from day one but somehow eluded our senior senator--ferry appropriations in the stimulus bill and Boeing negotiations being only the latest examples. The looming loss of Boeing is a failure on all sides. The McDonnell Douglas merger, the Machinists, and our plebian, under-experienced and over-supported Democratic bureaucracy all deserve a slice of the blame pie, not a shrug of the shoulders and an "oh well". Dave Hamilton | Oct 30, 2009 10:50 pm | 0 replies | View all | Post reply | Request removal

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