Inslee does his best not to offend Machinists as he meets with reporters Friday.

OLYMPIA, Nov. 8.—Lawmakers say they will do their part Saturday to keep Boeing in Washington, but the rest is up to an angry Machinists Union that must decide whether to accept a contract that forces significant concessions on health and retirement benefits and imposes a no-strike clause.

For all the fuss at the statehouse over tax breaks for Boeing, the real drama is taking place at Machinists Hall in Seattle. A deal negotiated by representatives of the international union doesn’t appear to be sitting well with the rank-and-file members who turned out for a raucous meeting Thursday night. Olympian debates over tax breaks and a possible gas-tax increase suddenly seem rather small. All the work at the statehouse will come for naught if the 22,000 members reject the contract offer in an election next Wednesday — Boeing says it will take its new 777X someplace else.

The situation led to one of the stranger scenes at the Capitol this year. Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee, never shy about bashing Republicans, had trouble finding a critical word for the Machinists who may well send the state’s largest employer on a one-way trip, for good. “I don’t think we should be surprised that there is strong passion and great deliberation about changes that have been proposed,” he said. “It is legitimate that people have strong passions and will take time to look at this contract.”

What is going on at Machinists Hall in Seattle makes lawmaking seem simple. Lawmakers expect to pass two bills for Boeing today, one of them a tax-break measure worth $8.7 billion through 2040. Expect a few no-votes, but with 56,000 jobs at stake in the new production line, not to mention billions of dollars in revenue for the state, lawmakers likely will not have to think about it very long. The feisty Machinists? They seem already to have to have done all their thinking.

At a meeting in Seattle Thursday night, District 751 president Tom Wroblewski reportedly tore up a copy of Boeing’s contract proposal at the podium and said he wanted the deal withdrawn. He called the offer a “piece of crap.” Reporters at the scene noted that angry shouts could be heard outside the meeting hall. And all the elected officials, all the chamber executives, all the corporate figures and local-government officials who have been working more than a year to keep Boeing in Washington appear to be helpless onlookers.

Lest He Offend

Inslee, because of his strong support from labor, may be the only figure in the state’s public-affairs world who has the ability to speak to an angry labor union. But even he appears reluctant to face the mob at Machinists Hall. He demurred when asked if he might make a personal appearance before the union to beg its support for the contract. “I have not had discussions about that,” he said. ”I don’t think we should.”

Instead, Inslee said the Machinists are masters of their domain. “There’s an offer on the table. This is a proposed agreement between the company and the Machinists. They will be masters of that destiny. I have been involved talking to both parties, obviously, and I have tried to make sure that people understand the stakes of this for the state of Washington. And the stakes are nothing other than whether or not we can win confidence that we will continue this incredible aerospace success story for the state of Washington. That is what is at stake in this decision, and I try to keep people focused on that.”

Lawmakers Upstaged

If lawmakers are powerless, many found themselves wondering what they were doing in Olympia. Their special session began official Thursday, but few were on hand for the opening ceremonies. Today witnesses the first floor action and general meeting of the gang of 147. An effort by Inslee to force action on a gas-tax increase appears to have been laughed out of the Senate. His public declaration Tuesday that a transportation package is a necessary component of a Boeing deal appears to have been debunked. And perhaps that is a lucky thing: The absence of House Transportation Chairwoman Judy Clibborn, D-Mercer Island, currently on vacation, makes negotiation on that subject all but impossible. “We are still negotiating, but it is hard to negotiate when Judy is in Mexico until Tuesday,” said Senate Majority Leader Rodney Tom, D-Medina.

Lawmakers say they are likely to adjourn today after passage of the tax measure and a separate bill streamlining permitting processes for Boeing factories. The only suspense about the matter is which bill advances – the Senate version or the House. Committees in both chambers voted Friday to send bills to their respective chamber floors.

The central issue is a tax break bill worth considerable money to Boeing over the long haul. The bill merely reenacts aerospace tax breaks that are due to expire in 2024, continuing them through 2040. House Finance Chair Ross Hunter, D-Medina, said it is hard to imagine controversy on that matter at any point in the future. It’s not as if the state of Washington is about to let the preferential aerospace tax rates go away, doubling the burden on an industry that is an engine of the economy. “Perhaps we are doing it 10 years earlier than we are required to do,” he said.

All the Legislature can do is pass the tax bill today – and watch what happens at the Machinists union halls next week, he said.  There seem to be as many factions within the Machinists Union as there are within the Legislature, he said. “This is a very contentious issue, and I’m not in the room for the Machinists conversation and their negotiations with the Boeing Co. That is their issue. Our job here is to make sure that we have a tax and infrastructure package that actually works for the company. This is a major investment in Washington. It is very important for Washington state.”

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