Biz group fights to keep Boeing, 787 in Washington
Published 9:15 am Thursday, August 13, 2009
A new alliance of business organizations has formed in the growing effort to keep Boeing and final assembly of its 787 in Washington state.
The group, called Boeing Works Here, launched its campaign in early August, following the ‘Saving Washington Aerospace’ conference – an event that coincided with Boeing hanging its sign on its newly purchased 787 supplier factory in Charleston, South Carolina.
Government and business leaders are worried that Boeing will set up a second 787 final assembly line in South Carolina rather than in Washington. Boeing is expected to make a decision on a second line by year’s end.
Boeing Works Here is mobilizing quickly, using many social media tools. The group has accounts with Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube and MySpace, as well as its original Web site, which includes a blog.
PR professional Jim Kneeland is the group’s spokesman. He described Boeing Works Here’s efforts in an e-mail:
“We are a growing group of business organizations that are concerned about what the loss of the 787 line would mean to the health of this state’s economy. …
Our interest is not to pick sides between the company and its workers but to provide a voice for all the businesses large and small – and their employees – that we have a stake in whether Boeing leaves or stays. We need to keep Boeing here. “
Members of Boeing Works Here include WashACE, the Washington Roundtable, Association of Washington Business and the Washington Restaurant Association. Kneeland said the group is adding members on a daily basis.
Several aerospace groups have formed in Washington in recent memory including the governor’s aerospace council and the Washington Aerospace Partnership.
The region also has industry groups, like the Aerospace Futures Alliance and the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance.
Community and business-based groups aren’t unique to Washington, of course. While Northrop Grumman and its partner EADS battled Boeing for the U.S. Air Force tanker contract, the duo’s supporters in Mobile, Ala., organized the Come Back Home to Mobile site and the Keep Our Tanker group.
The Air Force called off the last competition between Northrop-EADS and Boeing. But that battle is set to resume in September.
Boeing Works Here spokesman Kneeland said that while the group supports Boeing’s efforts in the tanker contest, its “concern is to keep Boeing production here in Puget Sound, rather than allowing it to move to the South.”
