Boeing's factory workers are by a good margin the best industrial workers in the history of the world. Always have been.

Kudos to the machinists, and to trade unionism. I wish only that we weren't celebrating the creation of yet more tools of war and militarism.

And, incidentally, it's "eke out a profit."

Don't tell Brendan! (Tell Brendan, please.)

@2,

That is an error I repeatedly make, and am entirely incapable of catching upon proofing.

And of course let's not forget, Boeing is still perfectly willing to use cheap, under-skilled, non-union labor in so-called "right-to-work" states to assemble commercial aircraft, so it's not like they should be entirely exonerated in that regard themselves.

Sort of like the way free market cultists can't wrap their heads around the fact that German workers are the most productive and efficient in the world, and the German economy, with its socialized medicine and corporate externality taxes, remains the envy of the EU, recently going so far as to bail out the collapsing Laissez-faire Free Market Paradise of Ireland.

Boeing execs are such hypocrites. Is anyone asking why then are they so keen to assemble 787s in South Carolina with a non union workforce?

@7, huh? German workers aren't even the most productive in the EU, let alone the whole world. French and Belgian workers are more productive than Germans. US workers are by most measures still the most productive workers in the world, and the gap is increasing. It's true that Germany, being the largest economy in Europe, and the most stable financially, is leading the way in bailing out Ireland, Greece, and Spain, but worker productivity isn't why. Ireland has higher per-worker productivity than Germany as well.

Couldn't hurt that the debacle of risk sharing around the development of the 787 has to be fresh in Boeing's mind. Their vision of a "friction-free" global supply chain, with partners taking on significant engineering development, turned ugly when theory hit the real world.

Hopefully this will be an example for other US manufacturers how working with the union can be a win-win.

@8 - I doubt any Boeing executive is "keen" about that decision anymore.

Gee, great scoop once again, one as you say the mainstream missed. Of course, you got it from the Seattle Times, not only mainstream but the paper you so often say shouldn't be trusted. You're always good for a laugh, though.