BOEING

    

     I knew as soon as I read about Boeing's announcement that it was looking for a location other than Washington State to build its 777X passenger jet, that Alabama would jump in.
     And sure enough, the Alabama Congressional Delegation and state officials are jumping through hoops and sending up fireworks to convince the company that Alabama is their kinda place.
       Today's AL.COM story mentions Boeing's existing presence in Huntsville, the area's great white collar engineering workforce and the strength of its post-secondary education system, but the story never once uses the word union. As in NON-union. 
     Alabama is a so-called "right to work" State...meaning hostile to unions. Boeing couldn't reach an agreement with the unions in Washington State for an eight-year contract extension, so they're looking for more fertile, less unionized turf. 
     And Alabama will be ready to open it's always close-to-empty purse to win the relocation too. Despite yearly cuts to education budgets and decimation of the state-employee work force, there always seems to be an endless supply of stuff to give companies to relocate here. Then the firms explain how it's the great workforce and education system that lured them to Bama in the first place.
 

   The UAW has been working around the state's auto-assembly plants, tying to get a foothold. 
     Meanwhile in nearby Tennessee, The VW company wants to form "worker councils"...and is working with the UAW to do so. VW has those councils in all of their plants except in two countries.      
     The U.S.
     And China.