WASHINGTON — Sen. Patty Murray on Wednesday invited the machinists union and Boeing to her Capitol Hill office to talk about the second assembly line for the company's new 787 aircraft.
Boeing is expected to decide in the next week or so whether to put the final assembly line for the Dreamliner in Charleston, S.C., or at its facility in Everett.
South Carolina is a right-to-work state, which means workers are under no obligation to join a union even if other workers in the same company are unionized. Everett workers are unionized.
Boeing has been pressuring the International Association of Machinists 751 to agree to a 10-year no-strike clause in its next contract. The union has balked.
Boeing already has applied for permits to clear land for a new factory near the Charleston airport.
Alex Glass, a Murray spokeswoman, said the union has agreed to the talks, but the senator hasn't heard back from Boeing yet.
"We're not getting into details, but it relates to the second 787 line," Glass said, adding the talks would begin "as soon as they could come to the table."