I recently returned to work at Boeing with a great sense of disappointment. At first I was angry with my fellow workers; wondering how anybody could accept a proclamation that their jobs would be going away. The more I thought about it and analyzed the situation, it became clear as to what really happened on Sept. 13.
As a force, we surrendered to the company. Make no mistake, this is a beaten-down, demoralized workforce that is filled with a sense of hopelessness. In fact, the atmosphere of hopelessness pervades the entire workforce, hourly and salaried alike. I doubt if you could find 100 people there who have a significant amount of time before they can retire, who believe they will retire from Boeing.
The company has a new mantra. It is sprinkled with words such as asset utilization, offsets, off-loading, sub-contracting, strategic alliances, return on net assets, and many more which basically define how the company will eliminate jobs for Boeing employees. The company has said all along that the workers being laid off now will not get their jobs back. I wondered how they could make that statement, but now it is very apparent how that edict will come to fruition. The very contract language that we accepted assures that this will occur.
Boeing, with the able assistance of numerous ex-McDonnell Douglas executives, is doing to itself what Airbus could never do. Boeing is destroying itself by using the same means that Douglas used to demolish itself as a viable manufacturer of commercial jet airplanes. Boeing has even received fair warning from experts who are intimately aware of what happened when McDonnell Douglas chose this path. It doesn’t appear that they are heeding the advice.
I guess when it comes time for Boeing to be absorbed, Airbus will be more than obliging.
Everett
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