Washington has a plethora of industry, but there are two names that pretty much come to people's minds when they think of the state:  Boeing and Microsoft.  I have worked for both, and while I have mentioned my high tech industry experiences, I don't talk about Boeing much.

I hired on to the 777 plant in Everett in 1996, about a year and a half after I left the Air Force.

Prior to my hiring on, in 1995, I began to pay attention to Boeing.  It was just prior to Christmas in 1995.  I heard the stories and saw the TV reports.  Christmas shopping at the Auburn Super Mall we drove past the picket lines.

I noticed something.  Boeing had offered them a new contract at around 45 days and they were voting on it.  A person labeled as a Union Officer came on TV expressing his optimism.  The membership flatly rejected it.  Shortly afterward, the same guy spoke on TV about how he had been pretty sure the Members would reject it.