Washington State Is Playa-Hatin’
Boeing’s recent announcement that the company will be assembling 787 Dreamliners in North Charleston, S.C. has Palmetto State residents thrilled beyond words.
Meanwhile, in the jilted Great Northwest, a local professor’s harsh words for South Carolina’s workforce has sparked something of a kerfuffle.
“(Boeing says) we gotta have parts made all over the world, because our markets are all over the world,” local professor T.M. Sell told a reporter in the wake of the company’s announcement last week. “There’s some truth to that, but that doesn’t explain sending fuselage work to South Carolina to be done by the functional equivalent of Walmart greeters.”
Walmart greeters? Ouch!
Sell is professor of political economy at Highline (Community) College – an institution that frankly sounds like it would fit right in here in South Carolina. He is also the author of Wings of Power: Boeing and the Politics of Growth in the Northwest.
Reached for comment (on his comment), Sell stepped in it again.
“Y’all are intelligent educated people, as far as I know,” Sell told WYFF TV 4 (Greenville S.C.). “And given time, I am sure you will be very good at producing airplanes.”
Comments
By Ynot on November 2nd, 2009 at 7:09 am
so they get cheap labor, big tax breaks and access to the state government.
why didn’t Washington state give em these perks?
By Soft Sigh From Hell on November 2nd, 2009 at 7:53 am
Perhaps he thought it was in Joe Wilson’s district.
‘Tis Charleston, not Red Bank.
By nocheapthing on November 2nd, 2009 at 9:00 am
I am hoping that we did not give to many concessions. Washington state gave 3.2 billion dollars worth in 2003. At least some folks in SC are smart enough to expect Boeing to bring in revenue……………. But, we better enjoy this while we can. We have seen too many jobs and industries go further south and to China.
By Cooter Brown on November 2nd, 2009 at 10:23 am
Warshingtun State cain go to hell, Hell, HELL!
By No different then what the south thinks of other regions on November 2nd, 2009 at 10:55 am
People here are just as bad as thinking they know what other regions of the country are like. If I had investments in the community in Washington State and got slighted for South Carolina, I’d be upset too.
I’ve lived in Southern California; Colorado; Minnesota; Iowa; North Carolina; Georgia and South Carolina. Just like everyone in SC thinking Iowa shouldn’t be considered for a BCS title games…they don’t know. Those people in Washington have most likely never been here…they don’t know.
By CNSYD on November 2nd, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Washington state and SC have competed before. Charleston Naval Shipyard and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard were both nuclear repair yards that competed for submarine work. Today Charleston Naval Shipyard is gone and Puget Sound Naval Shipyard is still in operation. Was it because Puget had better workers than Charleston? No, it was because Puget is blessed with naturally deep waters that do not need dredging and they have drydocks than can hold Nimitz carriers. Charleston does not have those natural advantages or drydocks that large. This time SC had the advantages that Boeing was looking for. BTW for all you carpetbaggers who complained about education, the flag, state government, etc., do you now understand that, as always, money talks?
By Stupid Question on November 2nd, 2009 at 2:06 pm
Besides, we have a reputation as a state that aspiring execs can have fun in, as our highest public officials can go off with strippers, Argentinian bimbos, and if they feel really bold, animals too. That had to be a strong selling point.
By follydude on November 2nd, 2009 at 3:35 pm
i’m seeing bumber stickers that will read:
“I DON’T CARE HOW THEY DID IT IN THE PACIFIC NORTH-WEST”
or
“Shrimp = good; Salmon = bad”
By CNSYD on November 2nd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Stupid Question, First I suggest that you shorten your name by just dropping the second word. Name me a proven or unproven allegation irt “highest public officials” of this state and tell me a state in the Union where you will not find some, if not all, of the same occurring. BTW, when did the guy in the AG office get to be a “highest public official”? Drop the graveyard and the fact he worked for a candidate for Governor and the story would not have made the news.
By Toyota Kawaski on November 2nd, 2009 at 4:03 pm
walmart greets or Starbucks coffee makers
By Rick on November 2nd, 2009 at 4:10 pm
I was stationed in the Puget Sound region for five years. The animosity is primarily from transplants from that failed social experiment south of them….California. They moved into the Pacific Northwest years ago and outnumber the locals many times to one. They came in with their big money from selling their assets and threw money around like it had little meaning into a part of the country that had been largely a lumber/fishing/seaport industry. After entering the market, they’ve found they need California wages to maintain their California lifestyle. Along with that they’ve brought their California attitude that the world revolves around them. This is just another round in a continuing saga involving Boeing and their union issues. Sell’s just a member of a community that depends on Boeing to remain relevant and hasn’t the talent to go elsewhere.
By Darkseid616 on November 2nd, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Apparently the good folks in Washington state don’t have a clue. Not only did they lose this Boeing facility to SC but let me give you an even better example of business leaving them. The former Seattle Supersonics are now the Oklahoma City Thunder;the Seattle Mariners have been in discussions to leave (possibly to Charlotte) and the Seattle Seahawks have been in on again off again discussions to pull up and move to Los Angles! Now when all the professional sport franchises are fleeing Washington the state at roughly the same time one has to wonder why? Looks like Boeing can read the writing on wall…
By mark g on November 2nd, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Seattle’s economy won’t even feel this Boeing move. They haven’t lost anything– they just won’t get the new Boeing assembly line. Seattle is still home to Microsoft, Amazon, Starbucks, etc.
There is bitterness simply because of labor issues. The Machinists make $29/hour in WA, and wil make closer to $14/hour in SC. In WA the union is strong, and SC there is basically none. WA workers are engaged, SC workers are docile. SC gave the equivalent of billions in incentives– the “Southern strategy.” WA was done with giving them incentives.
Both state have a lot to offer– they are both beautiful in their own way. It has nothing to do with that.
But WA feels burned seeing their new factory lines move to low-wage SC, in the same way SC feels burned seeing their textile plants move overseas.
By TMS on November 2nd, 2009 at 8:30 pm
I’m not sure what I stepped in, considering how this website and many others completely missed the point of my comments. Considering the way your local media portrayed them, I shouldn’t be surprised. The point is that we in Washington state gave Boeing almost everything it asked for — tax breaks, training support — hell, the entire state tax code was written for Boeing. And they still moved to another state, where they’re going to spend $900 million to save about $9 million on labor costs. Starting Boeing workers here make $15 an hour — you make $29 after 20 years of experience. The Everett 787 line will turn out seven to eight 787s a month, while the South Carolina line will turn out three. I don’t blame the workers for that — they’re being asked to learn to be journeyman mechanics in months, not years. Perhaps you’ll know what I meant in a few years, when Boeing shakes down South Carolina again, blames you for its shortcomings, and threatens to move the next assembly line to China.
By fitsnews on November 2nd, 2009 at 8:41 pm
TMS-
We’re not too bright around here and don’t have a lot of experience bragging about economic development wins, so pardon the oversight.
Since you stopped by, though, we’d be curious as to your thoughts on this piece …
http://www.fitsnews.com/2009/10/30/sc-policy-council-a-bailout-for-boeing/
-FITS