Boeing's Right to Work

To get union leaders to pay attention, and finally agree to a contract, Boeing threatened to move to a right-to-work state. These states, like South Carolina, actually like to work and understand competition still exists in the private sector. It’s competition between states, not union leadership, that secured the estimated 20,000 jobs in Puget Sound for the assembly of the new 777X jet. Union leaders can’t get the job done, period. No wonder the percentage of private sector workers in unions is in single digits. The WSJ’s Review and Outlook has more here:

After machinists shot down its initial contract proposal, Boeing received bids from nearly two dozen other states eager for the jobs. Only then did International President of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Tom Buffenbarger force another vote on a revised contract to prevent union jobs from flying away to right-to-work states in the South. Mr. Buffenbarger may have recalled Boeing’s decision in 2009 to build its 787 Dreamliner in North Charleston, South Carolina, to avoid labor disruptions that had slowed production at its plants in Puget Sound.

One reason union membership in the U.S. has shrunk to 6.6% of private workers from 35% in the mid-1950s is that to remain competitive businesses are fleeing union workforces that refuse to change. Detroit was a casualty of this jobs flight, and Seattle may have been another had Boeing machinists insisted on preserving their traditional pensions, which no longer exist in most of the private economy and leave workers hostage to economic fate. A 401(k) lets workers build assets immediately and transport them from job to job. The Boeing vote is a victory for common sense, the U.S. economy, and especially the Boeing workforce.

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.

E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.