Boeing workers celebrate $35 billion Air Force contract

EVERETT – Through a decade of rumors that Boeing’s 767 line would be shut down, Anne Baumgardner stuck with the company – and after it landed a $35 billion Air Force contract for a new aerial tanker fleet, she had reason to rejoice.

Baumgardner joined hundreds of other Boeing Co. workers Friday as they rallied at the Everett plant where the tankers based on the 767 will be built. Company officials, union leaders and politicians shook their hands and slapped their backs. Some of the workers, with their safety goggles and headsets on, waved towels that said “Team 767” as they celebrated the prospect of long-term job security in recession-weary times.

“For the last 15 years they’ve talked about it going away, and a lot of people left the project,” Baumgardner, a 22-year Boeing veteran, told the Seattle Times. “I stuck with it through the ups and downs, and I’m glad it’s paying off.”

Workers shouted “Thank you” and “My children thank you” to Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, as well as other lawmakers who pushed for Boeing to land the contract. The deal is expected to create about 11,000 direct and indirect jobs in Washington state.

“This means that I’ll retire here,” said David Ball, a wing line mechanic with Boeing for nearly 20 years. “It’s knowing that everybody will still be around in 10 years.”

Cantwell told the crowd “there could be no better economic news” for the region.

“Boeing will maintain their superiority in making the best airplanes in the world,” she said.

Democratic Rep. Norm Dicks, of Bremerton, a key player in defense appropriations, said the Air Force and the Department of Defense “are very convinced that Airbus will probably not protest” the award, as Boeing did when it lost in the previous round of the tanker contract’s decade-long saga.

Pam Geer, a 23-year employee, said she broke down in tears with the news and called her dad, who worked at Boeing before her. They cried together, she said.

“My smiling muscles have been getting a real workout, and they’re sore,” said Tom Wroblewski, president of the Machinists union at Boeing. “Everyone is ready to start building these tankers today. We finally did it.”