With all the recent revelations that Boeing must drastically change its work-force strategies, cut its labor and overhead costs and now the news that many of the 30,000 or so laid-off workers will likely not get their jobs back – the writing is on the wall.
While Phil Condit and his cronies are on tour in jolly old England, drumming up business and painting a picture of a leaner, meaner Boeing, the message they are sending home is clear. I am sure they could care less how much “posturing” takes place for the upcoming machinist contract negotiations. They could drag on negotiations far longer than any of the striking workers could survive on a picket line, and once the workforce has been exhausted here, it will open the door for a corporate move away from Washington and possibly the U.S. altogether. It is indeed true that Sept. 11 became a tragedy of convenience for Boeing, as far as I’m concerned. Rumors were flying about layoffs and changes months in advance and now they are continuing to use it to get themselves off the hook.
I am not up on my foreign languages, but can anyone say “Welcome Boeing,” in Japanese?
Lake Stevens
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