The policies and politics of Washington state have driven Boeing to move farther away from its original home, ever since construction workers broke ground in South Carolina to begin construction of its new high-tech aerospace facility.

University of Washington student Josh Waugh has a few common-sense observations for the state’s union leaders and politicians.

…Many have tried to reverse this trend, or at least slow it down over the years. State lawmakers have offered continuously growing incentives packages, reaching a height of $8.7 billion in tax breaks, as well as a possible $500 million subsidy offered to the corporation in return for the 777X contract. Sadly, all of these efforts on the part of our legislators have been for naught.

In the face of the continued move and refusal to plan more production in Washington state, Boeing workers here can’t really afford to lose out on another contract in competition with the rest of the country. One more lost contract means Everett facilities become less relevant, less likely to be updated for future production, and that much closer to eventual abandonment.

…Sometimes you have to pick your battles, and this was one that should have been avoided. The Boeing Company held all the cards, they have the power to pick and choose where they build, and can therefore demand more from a deal.

Laborers in other states won’t care about pensions or pay cuts; they just want a job to support their families, the kind of jobs that 80,000 Washington state Boeing employees and two previous generations have lived off of comfortably. They’ll take a “piece of crap” contract and love it.

The Machinist Workers Union accomplished very little by rejecting the proposed 777X contract. It was an amenable stand against cutthroat corporate policy, but it was made in a state that desperately depends upon Boeing employment, at a time when such employment is exceptionally scarce.

Other states such as Texas, South Carolina, and California will roll over and play dead just to have Boeing consider constructing a facility there. Employee workforces in these states don’t have unionized labor traditions as strong as in Washington and Seattle, so they won’t put up a fight when their wages get cut again and again.

So at the end of the day, we lost jobs, jeopardized the future of aerospace production in Washington, benefited South Carolina and other states, and showed the corporate big-wigs that we have a lot of self-respect. I wouldn’t consider that a victory here, not in the least.