The fallout from Wednesday’s decision by Boeing to locate a second Dreamliner 787 assembly line in South Carolina instead of Everett heated up Thursday, with state GOPers blaming Gov. Chris Gregoire and the rest of the Olympia Democrats.

    It is becoming clear Boeing left in large part due to the 57-day strike by the Machinists union in 2008 that put the Dreamliner 787 behind schedule and cost Boeing more than a billion dollars.

    Gov. Gregoire said Jim Albaugh, the president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told her it was all about labor costs.

    We would bet a union paycheck that Gov. Gregoire’s visit to the Machinists union picket line during this last strike will be brought up if she runs for a third term.

    And it should.

    Instead of shoring up her “base,” Gov. Gregoire should have been impressing upon the union it was time to preserve jobs now and for the future. Boeing union jobs are among the best paid in the nation.

    It should have been clear to Gov. Gregoire that allowing the Dreamliner assembly line to emerge on the East Coast would be a strategic mistake and puts in jeopardy the entire 80,000 Boeing workforce currently in Washington. If South Carolina develops the capability of building complete airplanes, any leverage workers have in Washington state, with their high wages, will be lost.

    This is a miscalculation of the highest order, one that if it occurred in the private sector would result in a changing of top management.

    The visit by Gov. Gregoire to the picketers certainly sent a strong message to Boeing management that unions in Washington state are in the driver’s seat, and any negotiations would have the power of the state supporting the union stance. As our top political leader, Gov. Gregoire holds responsibility for this loss of thousands of Boeing jobs. Worse, she might have been the leader that allowed Boeing to start a series of moves that will lead to the exodus of the rest of the highly valuable aerospace jobs out of this state.

    Take a look at Gov. Gregoire’s record and it is clear she is on the side of organized labor. Perhaps even beholden to them. That’s what Boeing management certainly factored in with this week’s decision.

    An aviation-industry expert predicts the reaction by the Machinists union would “enrage” the union, and lead to “work-by-the-rules” actions “that will slow production.” The analyst predicts that contract talks in 2012 would make the 2008 strike “look like a Sunday picnic.”

    We hope Gov. Gregoire and the union understand these 80,000 jobs are not guaranteed to stay in Puget Sound. We hope they have learned a lesson this week.