This discussion got me thinking so I looked up the average salary at Boeing Seattle and compared it to the average salary at Boeing N. Charleston. The averages reported on Payscale.com were Seattle 91,382 and Charleston 72,208. In Seattle in 2019 the median home price was 397,900 while Charleston was 269,400. The Seattle cost of living index is 172.3 while the Charleston cost of living index is 111.5, 100 is the US median.

Based on these figures it looks like the non union workers in SC are, in practical terms making more real income than Seattle workers. The dollar goes much farther in the Charleston area than Seattle and the pay is not that far apart. I am sure there some outliers and there is no state income tax in WA and in SC it ranges up to 7% based on income. There are also union dues to be paid in Seattle and I do not know how much they are so no idea if that would offset the state income tax.

It doesn't look like anyone in the SC plant is being taken advantage of and the union thing is not really a part of the culture there.

They have voted down the union for years. The comparable unionized factory labor in the area make less.

The Boeing 787 factory is not in Seattle. It’s 23 miles north in Everett, WA. I promise nobody working at the 787 plant lives in Seattle. Look up the real estate numbers in Everett. Worlds different. Everyone is in here whining about Seattle and Boeing. The city of Seattle has nothing to do with the Everett plant (747,767,777,787) or the Renton plant (737, ex757).

You are right, don't know how I made that mistake.

Median home in Everett WA for 2020 is 379,700 and cost of living index is 118.8. Not too much difference but lower for sure. Still looks like the dollars go farther in SC.

Newsflash: "Local manufacturer leaves for 'greener' pastures". Shocker.

Facing stiff competition and catastrophic losses, Boeing will likely continue to relocate production and assembly to locations that won't tax and regulate them into oblivion. Gov. Inslee appears to have skipped the profit and loss class while attending the Hugo Chavez School of Economics.

So when Charleston votes in a union and Boeing opens plants in Mexico with cheaper labor, we’ll all applaud that too, right?

I'm fairly certain that he said 'stabability', twice, but I'll have to axe around. I also heard 'Boing' as well.

I think people are forgetting that the 787 plant in Charleston is not new. They have voted down the union for years. When they see themselves as being the highest paid factory labor in the area for the last decade, I can see why it’s hard to vote that out.

Did you factor in the 7% state income tax for SC versus the 0% in WA as part of your pay assessment?

I did, its in my first post.