Boeing wants to buy more land in South Carolina
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - Boeing wants to buy more than 1,000 acres near its new 787 jet manufacturing plant in North Charleston.
The Charleston County Aviation Authority voted Thursday to begin the process of selling 320 acres to Boeing Co. The price has not been set.
The authority voted to give Boeing first rights of refusal on nearly 500 more acres, as well as an option to buy another 265 acres.
Boeing has not announced any plans for the land. But Boeing South Carolina chief counsel Mark Fava says the company doesn't "bank" land it doesn't plan to use.
Fava says the company brought up the idea of buying more land from the aviation authority months ago.
Charleston Mayor Joe Riley says the purchase plans are good news for the area.
Boeing makes 787-passenger jets in North Charleston.
The Charleston County Aviation Authority voted Thursday to begin the process of selling 320 acres to Boeing Co. The price has not been set.
The authority voted to give Boeing first rights of refusal on nearly 500 more acres, as well as an option to buy another 265 acres.
Boeing has not announced any plans for the land. But Boeing South Carolina chief counsel Mark Fava says the company doesn't "bank" land it doesn't plan to use.
Fava says the company brought up the idea of buying more land from the aviation authority months ago.
Charleston Mayor Joe Riley says the purchase plans are good news for the area.
Boeing makes 787-passenger jets in North Charleston.
People..People. Planes are not being built fast enough. Boeing SC proved that they can build anywhere with a large amount of unskilled aircraft workers...it WORKED. Now for the next plant....MEXICO...right next to the suppliers. The solution? Make Mexico (#51) our newest U.S. State. For every company who ran to Mexico to escape wages laws, pensions, and pollution laws.......Lets bring em right on back. The only flaw besides the fact it will not happen is;  the Plant Boeing is building in China. Average wage in Washington =$28 Charleston = $14 Mexico = $3.50 China = $4.50
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One industry flocking to Mexico for its lower cost structure and ample workforce is aerospace manufacturing. Between the years 2010 and 2011, total sales in Mexico's aerospace industry increased by 25 percent to $4.5 billion, according to the Aerospace Industries Association, which, according to World Bank statistics, was a significant improvement on the aerospace industry's overall annual growth rate of 15 percent.
http://mexicotoday.org/article/world-bank-statistics-confirm-mexico%E2%80%99s-attractiveness-aerospace-manufacturing
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/2012/07/18/2946097/mexico-takes-flight-as-hub-for.html
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2012/09/10/167930/as-chinas-wages-climb-mexico-stands.html
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Last month Boeing was urging its Washington suppliers to move to Mexico because they were becoming uncompetetive. Anyone who thinks Boeing isn't moving to greener pastures like everyone else is unrealist. Meanwhile, the machinist are going on strke in the new year. Real smart move.
Umm..
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The machinist are not going on strike. They just signed a 4 year contract extention in September.
I hope I have my place sold before Boeing does inevitably close its operations here... each time there is a strike I start to sweat if this will be the straw that breaks the camels back...I just hope I have my place sold by then as if I thought my property values were low now... they will be even worse the second Boeing starts to pull things up in my neighborhood...of course I expect as long as the 737 is still being produced the lines here are safe... but once the new aircraft construction goes elsewhere it is easy to see Boeings days in WA will be numbered....
You people who constantly blame the union better start educating yourself. Do you guys REALLY think that the unions are driving these companies away? You really need to start paying more attention to the politics involved in running a large corporation because honestly, labor costs at Boeing's unionized shops are nowhere NEAR large enough to drive the company away. Boeing is more interested in avoiding the fees and fines involved in carbon fiber manufacturing (Lots of toxic waste) here in Washington. They defiantly would be more interested in locating the 787 to a desperate state such as South Carolina who is willing to look the other way when it comes to toxic waste?
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The other 7#7 programs will not be going anywhere anytime soon. And even if they were planing to move, disbanding the unions would not prevent them from moving on to a cheaper and easier to please state.
Hey unions, hear that load rumbling sound ?? That's not jet engines you are hearing, but moving vans pulling up to your front door. Get the picture yet ? If you don't you will.
Hello?
Are Olympia and the Unions listening?
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Boeing won't be in WA State in 10 years of they don't wake up and smell the economic reality.
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I guess I fail to realize what good the union does. Or any union for that matter. I see no positives. It's smarter for a company to build products at a lower cost without the hassle (drama) that the union (s). Changes like this may ruin the local economy, but maybe then the government and unions would wake up.
 @too wet for me Virtually the things unions were formed for are now ensconced in law. Wages, bargaining, safety, etc.... Unions need to join the 21st century, and change with the times, if workers want a union I don't have issues with that.
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When I seen that Boeing bought that plant I said at the time that it was the first motion in their intention to move their operations down to a right to work state. Seattle had better get ready to wave good buy Boeing and all the people that work there and all the money and taxes that they pay. The business conditions in Washington suck big time. High taxes, poor infrastructure like transportation, unwilling to work with business to help them stay profitable without treating them like a cash cow, and stupid regulations and laws that add nothing but grief to a business trying to work in the state. How many companies have already left the state and how many are going to in the next few years. Washington, Seattle and the rest had better had better quit using their heads for a suppository and start working on a fix to ENCOURAGE business to stay and more to come here.Â
Most people complain about what a union worker makes, mainly becasue they are not union. Something to consider, union wages haven't kept up with inflation; since 1985 my union wages have increased 225% and the cost of living has increased 283%. I am making less today than what I was making then. The problem isn't union scale wages the problem is that most seem to be happy with making less and less with each passing year, I know I am not happy with the fact that I make less than what I used to but it is a lot better than the alternative.
Ok, off topic KOMO. I hate this new comment forum. It is slow to load, I constantly have to sign in and re-sign in every other day. I have to re-sign in sometimes in the middle of typing a comment or clicking a Like button. Perhaps you can ask the company behind this forum to revamp a teeny tiny bit, please.
 @Crimsonkid Yes, I totally agree. This new format sucks, and go ahead and bring back the TU/TD.Â
 @Crimsonkid and bring back the thumbs up or down.
Between City, County, and State Governments combined with short sighted unions Boeing had little choice but to move somewhere they were appreciated. This is a big boo-bet-I-fooled-you thing. Guess what, the company is not too big to relocate.  They all figured, well sure Boeing will squeal but what can they really do? They are stuck here and they will just have to take it. So far they have not been completely forced out of the country. That quality workforce some are talking about? Well guess what, it has nothing to do with unions and everything to do with experience, which is gained by building the product. It also has a lot to do with a give-a-$#it workforce. Cry all you want to, but as long as you keep beating up the goose, expect only rotten eggs.    Â
I don't understand how Boeing purchasing land is such a big deal. Who cares!Â
 @PrairieDawnÂ
Because WA State and the 2 big Unions have slowly killed the goose laying those golden eggs.
@PrairieDawn Because Boeing is setting itself up to operate in an area that is non-union. This means that the jobs that are currently in Washington state will go away.
All you idiots wishing for Boeing to leave this state because you hate unions think again. Our local economy will tank if it does. We will all feel the pain. your local mom and pop store, your local malls, car dealers, medical centers, eyes centers and dental that good medical benefits pay for. Everything else a good paying middle class job can afford will sink! Boeing workers carry most of the economy this side of the cascades. think about it! Unions are not the problem. Its greed by CEO's with $500,000,000 a year salary's. Now they want cheaper backs to make money of off in South Carolina. Oh and Cheap mechanics building an airplane?! lol Great combo, dummies.
@253D What a chucklehead you are. Non-union workers will do a better job because they actually might get fired if they screw up or get stoned while at work. The union protects the screwups now. Without the union the company can get rid of the dead weight.
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Nobody wants Boeing to leave, Dummy, we just want the unions to come to their senses (don't hold your breath for that).
 @70MonteCarlo  @253DChucklehead? You mad bro? ..how about an employee covering up mistakes on a airplane because they are afraid of getting fired? These aren't toasters or tv's we are making. Its 80,000 tons of flying machine that can hold over 200 lives! You dodo, I can tell you are clueless about what it takes to build a plane.
 @70MonteCarlo  @253D You think employees who are constantly worried about being fired do a good job? Hahahahahahahahaha. You realize that all of the SC produced 787s have had problems right? That's because the employees there are afraid of missing deadlines with justified quality concerns so they fudge the numbers and then the planes break, surprise surprise. Would you like to fly on a jet that was pushed out "on schedule" by a team of people nervous that if they even said "boo" they'd be fired? I have bridges for you...
 @253D According to you, Boeing employees drive the economy. I would argue that Amazon, Microsoft, and Costco have a major hand in the NW economy, but I understand your point. However, how can you talk about the Boeing workers who carry the region with their good paying jobs, than talk about being screwed and underpaid? Sure, the higher-ups make more money than they need, but Boeing pays VERY well. All the "idiots" as you say, are tired of hearing people who make close to, or over a 6 figure salary cry about how unfairly they are treated.
 @JK15 Oh so you think amazon Microsoft and Costco has more employees in the region then Boeing are you serious? perhaps if combined. The only employer that has more employees in the region is the military. And we all know what happens to towns when bases shutdown don't we? lol I can always tell which commenters were hand fed by the media. Influenced by a few bad apples shown on tv or some biased news story. Most of the whiners in the union are the 20+ yr old timers and the guys who haven't had any other job out of Boeing since they were 18. They have no idea what its like out there. Yes they are spoiled. But there is new generation of young union mechanics and engineers taking over and coming in hungry from a recession, full of energy. They are so grateful for their job and proud of the product they build. They need our support not our hate. Hell Boeing is Hiring . Don't me mad at them.. join them! Apply!Â
 @253D I don't think these guys are wanting Boeing to leave the state because of the union.  Really they want the union to wise up.  But since history suggests the union won't, they are foreseeing that the union will DRIVE Boeing from the state.
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Want vs expect are two different things.
 @TCat  @253D Unions, the State, and the business climate are forcing Boeing to reduce it's costs to remain competitive against the government supported Air Bus. As anyone can see Boeing has lost a tremendous market share of the aircraft industry and if they don't reduce the costs they will continuing loosing more and more as Japan, China, Russia, and other countries enter the market.Â
 @TCat  @253DÂ
As a member of the IAM I can tell you that you have no clue. The Union has some good, but the real problem is the way it protects the worthless workers at the expense of the good. It is this that slowly drives Boeing out of state. It is going to be a real blow to the state but they did this to themselves.
Its only a matter of time and Boeing will be a distant memory in the northwest....
Apparently Boeing hasn't learned it's lesson about having an educated workforce. Maybe when more of the SC-produced planes keep getting grounded for major defects or a few of them crash and kill a couple thousand citizens and Boeing has to pay out billions in damags, maybe then they'll reconsider.There's a reason South Carolina ranks near the bottom of the nation in terms of average income (below the poverty level) and education. That reason is called "right to work [for less]".
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High quality products require highly skilled labor. Who wants to fly on something put together by a South Carolinian who doesn't understand aerospace engineering, or worse, by employees in a "right to work state" who fudge safety checks and quality checks to make deadlines for fear they'd be fired otherwise.
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Trust me, when building planes you want those employees to TAKE THEIR TIME AND NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT BEING FIRED. It's your life...Â
@NorthwestEconomist How many of the 787's that have had issues lately were made in SC? I think that most were built in Everett. I don't think any at SC have been delivered yet and still there are issues with the fleet that has been delivered. So, the union workers tend to produce defects also...
 @TheBaldone  @NorthwestEconomist Only 1 787 was made in Everett. The rest were all from SC.
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Only ONE 787 has NOT had problems, guess what, it's the one from Everett.
 @NorthwestEconomistÂ
So why is it Airbus planes are not all falling out of the sky?
 @Alex Clayton  @NorthwestEconomist Union made, and high quality.
@NorthwestEconomist Obviously the unions haven't figured out that if you and your members try to hold a company hostage, they will take their business and go! If I were a business owner, and had to deal with the engineers and machinists union, I would have left a long time ago!
 @lgconservative  @NorthwestEconomist And then you'd go bankrupt from the FAA fines and multi-billion dollar lawsuits when your defective planes crash and kill people. Unfortunately, the way our current crony-capitalist system is set up corporations do not do things in their long-term best interest.Â
 @TCat  @NorthwestEconomist  @lgconservative The union wasn't out of line, Boeing was pulling in record profits and giving management and exec huge bonuses and trying to cut lower workers pay and benefits.Â
 @NorthwestEconomist  @lgconservative Okay, so what is the "correct" response to a union who holds the company hostage despite the members already being significantly over-compensated for their work relative to other industries in the area?  Negotiations don't work when "compromise" means between ludicrously overpaid and extremely ludicrously overpaid.
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So what else do you suggest? Â What do you suggest that would bring the union back in line, not "how else should Boeing appease the ravenous monster?"
 @lgconservative  @NorthwestEconomist I know, but the sad thing is that their incorrect reaction to what the union has done to them will lead to a decrease in quality and hurt the company in the long run, it's sad.Who knows, maybe if Boeing raises the quality of life in SC enough the people there will become educated enough to unionize as they realize how high the stakes are in their jobs and lives.Â
@NorthwestEconomist I am not debating quality here, I am stating the fact that a company doesn't want to be held hostage by a union. Notice I made no mention of quality in my post.
Makes sense. The way negotiations are going locally Boeing will build another plant in SC and move more of the production line there.
If the IAM would've stopped protecting lazy employees this never would have happened. With what's happening now, it might be too late to correct their mistakes.
 @virtual anomaly It isn't IAM this time, it's SPEEA.Â
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 @virtual anomalyÂ
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The term "Lazy B" comes from the slanted lettering that you see on the side of every Boeing owned building, property, etc.
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 @virtual anomaly  @boeman I've been here 32 years. I've seen it done many times, many ways...
 @virtual anomaly  @boeman You obviously don't work here, I do, and the number isn't as large as you make it sound. And there are ways for managers to deal with the problem...
@virtual anomaly
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Those lazy IAM workers out delivered Airbus in total deliveries this year. First time in over a decaded!
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 @Handsup70  @virtualÂ
The problem is the IAM fights tooth and nail to protect screw ups.
Why wouldn't they? WA state and its parasitic taxes and regs would be enough of an incentive. Then there's the huge bonus of shaking those crippling unions off your back. Go Boeing, the real workers will go with you, the unionized hide-n-seek whiners will stay here cry in their soup.
If you like your job at Boeing you should start planning on moving to South Carolina. The cost of living is cheaper and you can buy a home for less money. It's not just the Union that has chased Boeing away but the State of Washington should have been making them more comfortable with being here.
 @SEATTLITERON And its not just Boeing that is affected by the state. Many small businesses that support Boeing are feeling the pinch as well.
@SEATTLITERON Do you really think the cost of living and a home would stay cheaper? Ha.