Analyst suggests local Boeing union for Machinists in the Puget Sound region

The Boeing Co. and its local Machinists haven’t enjoyed the best relationship over the years — that’s no secret.

Analyst Scott Hamilton, with Leeham Co., suggested a partial solution: the Machinists’ local 751 District should “divorce itself from the national union.”

Machinists here should create their own union, over which they’ll have more say than if they maintain their tie to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, Hamilton said.

Hamilton spoke last week at the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance conference in Lynnwood.

The analyst said that the local Machinists have proven much more creative and willing to work with Boeing than has the national union.

“Their relationship with Boeing is contentious,” Hamilton said.

But Hamilton believes that Boeing also shares blame for the bad blood between the two. During talks with the Machinists over the fate of second 787 line, Boeing was using the union “as a stalking horse and whipping boy to get more incentives out of South Carolina,” he said.

Not surprisingly, Boeing disagrees with Hamilton’s assessment of second-line talks with the IAM.

“We were absolutely serious in our discussions with the IAM and our willingness to put the second line in Everett,” wrote Tim Healy, Boeing spokesman, over e-mail. “The IAM knew exactly what it would take to get the result they wanted.”