A Boeing prediction

Boeing will consider its other options, but will ultimately assemble the 777X airliner right here in Washington state. The alternative candidates are Huntsville, Alabama; Salt Lake City,  Utah, and Long Beach, California. Huntsville, where Boeing has a plant, is a military and space manufacturing base, but it isn’t turning out aircraft at all. Utah has advantages for Boeing: It's a right-to-work state and the team at Boeing's plant in the Salt Lake City suburbs has experience working with composites (for the 787-9’s vertical stabilizers). Alas, the Utah workers lack experience with final assembly, and transportation costs for wings are high.Then there's Long Beach, Calif. whose union workforce is sure to bridle at the kind of pared down contract Boeing is offering its Wahington machinists. So  . . . we predict that Boeing will solicit and review offers from other states, and then do what Boeing does best: quietly negotiate. The company will aim for a contract that is palatable enough to win 51 percent of the union vote in Everett but still heavy on the cost-cutting measures. And who knows? Maybe Boeing can wring even more concessions from us. One Spokane legislator just suggested making Washington a right-to-work state. — A.S.