Lingering resentment over big Boeing tax breaks led to a snub for Gov. Jay Inslee from a key Democratic Party ally this week, as union leaders canceled the governor’s scheduled speech at a major labor gathering.
Inslee had been set to headline the Washington State Labor Council’s annual convention Thursday in SeaTac. But the governor’s name vanished from the schedule late last week amid discord over his planned appearance.
Jeffrey Johnson, president of the Labor Council, said he disinvited Inslee after discussions among Labor Council members. He praised Inslee’s work on transportation, climate change and “support of public employees and the common good.”
But, Johnson said, tensions persist over Inslee’s role in securing Boeing’s record-setting $8.7 billion tax break and his pressure on the Machinists union to vote on a contract that ended workers’ defined-benefit pension plan.
“Feelings are pretty raw with a lot of our members, a lot of our unions,” Johnson said. The resentment goes beyond just Boeing-affiliated unions, he added.
Adding to the pique is Inslee’s refusal to endorse a push by unions to tie continuation of the Boeing tax breaks to wage and jobs targets.
David Postman, an Inslee spokesman, said in an email the governor has “a lot of respect” for the Labor Council and works with it on many issues.
“There is disagreement on this one. But there is also a mutual commitment to keep talking about it, and we welcome that conversation,” Postman said.
Larry Brown, legislative director for Aerospace Machinists 751, said he’d been unaware that Inslee was invited to speak at the convention until the governor showed up on the schedule. There then was a discussion on how the speech would be greeted, he said. But Brown said his union didn’t seek to have the speech canceled.
Representatives of Boeing’s white-collar union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, declined to comment, as did Boeing.
The snub comes despite Inslee coming through on some big labor priorities during the recently concluded legislative session.