I'm more like the Janus Fund guy on the radio commercial. I'm cautious with company PR and like to hear what the folks on the inside (doing the work) are saying.
Something seems to be fundamentally wrong with BA and its management for this to get out of control like it has. When will the BoD step in? Are they waiting for "Wall Street" to give them some direction?
Here's a good letter to the editor and a response from what appears to be a Speea member.
fitermania.com 
I was absolutely disgusted by this letter, which appeared in Saturday's Times: Only thinking of themselves I don't know where to begin, I'm so fed up with people who go on strike, especially when they make enough money.
So Boeing workers want more, besides benefits and bonus. Don't they realize the vicious cycle they start? When they finally get what they want, then we will have the truckers, the nurses and our teachers on strike. Everyone wants more, and yet, do we get good quality for the pay increase? I doubt it. People who are on fixed income or who live from paycheck to paycheck wonder where they will get the money to pay their bills. Most of these people don't have benefits, so they can't go to a doctor or dentist. If you ask me, I feel these strikers are only thinking of themselves.
Helen Thompson, Seattle
I sent a letter to the Times in reply (see below) but after seeing this as well as the KIRO opinion polls, I'm also wondering: what can/should we be doing to combat Boeing's spin doctors? Seems to me that since Boeing ran a full-age ad in the paper maybe we should do likewise so the general public gets our side of the story. Although we have plenty of info on the Net, not everyone out there has access to it!
Here's the letter I sent. I hope they'll print it:
I am writing in response to Helen Thompson's letter of Feb. 26 ("Only thinking of themselves"). She states that "Boeing workers want more, besides benefits and bonus". Besides what bonus? If Ms. Thompson would take the trouble to familiarize herself with the details of either of the contract offers we SPEEA members voted down, she would be aware that there was no bonus offered either time. Furthermore, both offers contained takeaways from the benefits we had in our 1995-1999 contract, despite the announcement of record profits for 1999, and despite the fact that the IAM's new contract had a 10% bonus included with no takeaways.
We saw the handwriting on the wall more than a year ago, when the company forced a 10% medical premium and increased deductibles on our nonrepresented salaried coworkers. The first contract offer was an attempt to do the same to us, and the second merely shifted the takeaways around. The message is clear: Boeing's executives do not recognize the value of their salaried employees. We have to put a stop to this trend NOW. If we don't, not only will our ability to support our families continue to erode, but Boeing's ability to attract and keep talented engineers and technical workers will also.
We're striking because it's high time Boeing executives recognize just how much we contribute to the profitability of the Boeing Company. We've worked hard and earned the right to share in the profits, just as our IAM coworkers have. It's unfortunate that a strike seems to be the only way to get this message across, but it's human nature not to appreciate something until it's gone.
On "living from paycheck to paycheck": I've been a Boeing engineer since 1980, and given the cost of living in the Puget Sound area, I do not personally know anyone working at Boeing who does NOT live from paycheck to paycheck! Perhaps Ms. Thompson has us confused with Microsoft.
Thinking of ourselves? We must -- but more importantly, we're thinking of our families and all the future engineers and technical workers who will follow us. |
