It was great news, that’s undeniable. Boeing’s nod to Everett as the assembly site for its new 7E7 Dreamliner was a long-awaited boost to our long-suffering region.
Anyone who didn’t see Tuesday’s announcement as a bright spot on the horizon hasn’t considered how dark a day it would have been had the decision gone another way — an unthinkable way.
But even good news can be hard to take. For the tens of thousands of workers laid off by the Boeing Co. since Sept. 11, 2001, the great news is bittersweet.
"My understanding from industry analysts is that there will be 800 to 1,200 new jobs. More than 33,000 have been laid off. A drop in the bucket comes to mind," said Jeffrey Marchant, 38, of Lake Stevens.
Marchant was laid off in 2002 from his job as an expeditor in the wire shop at Boeing’s Everett plant.
"I definitely want the 7E7 here. I spent 13 years at Boeing, a third of my life. I have a lot of friends still working there," he said.
He is luckier than some.
Through a government-sponsored retraining program, in June he earned an associate degree in construction management from Edmonds Community College. But he hasn’t found full-time employment.
"I don’t rule out Boeing somewhere down the line," Marchant said.
The $3.2 billion state tax incentive and other promises to Boeing don’t sit well with Melvin Coplin. A methods analyst in industrial engineering, the Camano Island man was laid off in March.
"There’s no way it’s going to bring my job back," Coplin said of the 7E7 decision. "But I’m happy that others at Boeing may gain some stability.
"However, I am pretty saddened. My perspective has changed a lot," said Coplin, 51, who now works for a mental health organization and is a graduate student in clinical psychology at Argosy University.
"What I see every day is the lack of funding and assistance that so many people need for medical or psychological help," Coplin said. "The fact that Boeing demanded this aid, and changes in unemployment insurance, plus we’re building a dock, I just feel as a citizen of Washington that this was blackmail. It’s not good for our state."
He was eager for a career change and was aided by federal training money. But Coplin is still reeling financially. His wife has taken a job at McDonald’s. They have a 6-year-old son.
For 44-year-old Kimberly Spjut of Marysville, the 7E7 news brought no relief from her family’s long siege of unemployment. Her husband, Eric, lost his electrician’s job at the Everett Boeing plant, where he worked on the 747 and the 777.
"He was hired in 1997, got laid off the first time in November of ‘99, went back in August of 2000, and got laid off again in February of 2002," she said. "I’m glad if friends I have at Boeing can keep their jobs. But 800 new jobs, that’s not much."
Spjut and her 47-year-old husband have three children. He’s done seasonal work at Wal-Mart for $7.40 an hour. She’ll work several months doing tax preparation come January, but that’s also when their unemployment checks run out.
They get by, she said, because of an understanding landlord, a broken-down car that runs "by the grace of God," and children old enough to understand there won’t be much under the Christmas tree.
A child of a timber family, Spjut understands a changing economy.
"This area used to be built on logging," she said. "My dad worked for Everett Plywood. We survived the logging industry breaking down."
If Boeing had chosen a different site, "it might have forced us to regroup and figure out how to make our state survive."
"I don’t see that much changing in our economy, and I don’t see where a bunch of airlines are going to start ordering a whole bunch of planes," she said.
Marchant knows a competitive global market is forcing changes at Boeing. Many workers are unhappy that while the next-generation plane will be assembled here, major components will come from other countries, he said.
"There are two different views, business owners and employees. I’m not always convinced they make the best decisions, but at the same time it’s not my business," he said.
Kimberly Spjut might be speaking for all of us around Puget Sound when she says her happiness about the 7E7 is tempered by a strong dose of reality, not to mention a rough spell of joblessness.
"My husband was born and raised in Everett. I remember seeing the first 747 fly, and how exciting that was. We’ve been through so many ups and downs with Boeing," she said. "I’m excited Boeing will be building a new plane. I’d be more excited if there were lots of orders."
Columnist Julie Muhlstein: 425-339-3460 or muhlsteinjulie@heraldnet.com.
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