unions

Exactly!

My dad worked for Boeing in an engineering capacity for his entire career, and my uncle did as well. Boeing used to be one of the best companies to work for, with great benefits and respectable wages. My uncle was union, and it seemed there were some pretty awful changes around 10 years ago, because he lost his job and rehired in a worse position at a different unit, but he was already close to retirement so he just stuck it out. My dad wasn't union and his position didn't have any issues, but he was grandfathered into the pension so he got a pretty good deal. I also remember a lot of the jobs leaving WA and moving to SC and other places around 15-20 years ago (again, this is just what my dad told me), so I know at least around then they were looking to cut costs.

So it seems like something changed fundamentally in the last 10-15 years. I didn't work there, so I don't know if that timeline is accurate, but Boeing today is nothing like the Boeing my dad worked for throughout his career. And it's really sad, because Boeing used to be the place to work in the Seattle area before Microsoft and Amazon completely took over. These days, I'd probably point to Wayerhauser, but that's also based on old info (my neighbor loved working there and thought everyone was well treated).