I was there at the same time and I remember the exact same thing. There was a lot of talk about this being used to offset some of the losses caused by any future union strikes and also as leverage when negotiating with the unions.
I also remember that there were consistent ongoing quality issues. Planes from SC would require significant rework when they arrived in Everett.
Yea I knew Peterbuilt an engineer who talked at how bad the work was at the Nashville/union plant. He watch people get fired for gross negligence, be hired back a month later. There are several fleets who would specifically order trucks from the other two non-union plants.
