WSJ: "The 787 Dreamliner that left the assembly building Friday was the first plane completed at a plant that has shifted the dynamics of U.S. aircraft manufacturing and is pivotal to the company's most ambitious production increase since Boeing started delivering jetliners in 1958.
The Dreamliner, with "Made with pride in South Carolina" emblazoned on its nose, was the first commercial jet built on the East Coast and the first assembled by a nonunion workforce. The 240-acre site here includes the first new jetliner assembly campus in the U.S. in more than four decades and Boeing's first outside Washington state. ...
Perhaps the most distinctive thing about the North Charleston plant is its work force of more than 6,000, most of whom were on hand to chant, "We build jets" at Friday's ceremony.
For decades, Boeing has relied on unionized machinists in Washington. The company's Pacific Northwest tenure has seen generations of aerospace workers, many from the same family, pass down experience building some of the world's most complex flying machines.
But the relationship between Boeing and its largest union has been tumultuous. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers' membership, currently above 29,000 at Boeing, has voted to strike five times since 1977. The most recent walkout, in 2008, halted production for 58 days."
By being 'militant' The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers finally pushed Boeing into setting up a second facility.
