Jake Blumgart on why the aerospace giant is really ditching Washington workers:

As you've probably heard, last week Boeing infuriated local labor leaders and disappointed our state's politicians by deciding to open up a second 787 production line in South Carolina. While the company says this wasn't an anti-labor move and politicians like Governor Christine Gregoire have tried to spread the blame around so that no one's fully at fault, it's hard to read this as anything but a blatant power play by Boeing against the local machinists' union—whose members build the majority of the company's aircraft.

Relations between Boeing and the machinists have been acrimonious of late, with strikes accompanying four of the past seven contract negotiations. So the choice of Charleston over Everett can basically be interpreted as the new managerial line: Fuck you, machinists.

Read the whole thing, including Blumgart's demolition of the official Boeing company line, HERE.