Cog in the machine...

I read this "Letter to the Editor" in Saturday morning's paper and rose in standing ovation.

I recently retired from Boeing after working there for 30 years, many of those years in management. I was proud that I worked for Boeing. I was working for one of the great companies of the world. I had the greatest respect for leaders such as T.A. Wilson and Malcom Stamper. These were men who built a company that made the best products in the world. Men who led the best work force in the world. Men who took great gambles with Boeing because they believed in their workers. Men who won those gambles because of the workers. These were honest men, good men, respected and trusted by all.

Today's Boeing leaders are certainly not respected or trusted by the Boeing work force or anyone else. They have displayed a deplorable lack of ethics, ranging from cheating on bids to cheating on wives. They are now cheating their loyal workers. The sale of Boeing to Onex Corp. at the expense of the workers is another show of current Boeing leaders' lack of ethics. While this sale may be legal, it is shameful.

This sale is not a matter of "saving" the company. The Wichita division is profitable. For most of the 30 years I worked there, Wichita was Boeing's most productive and profitable division. Wichita usually earned a return of better than 8 percent. This sale is an effort to enrich a few greedy men at the expense of many loyal workers. All local management involved in this sham should be ashamed.

Okay... in the interests of "full disclosure," I had the privilge of working for this guy for 'bout the last five of his thirty Boeing years and he was the best supervisor I ever had. Honest, open, willing to do the dirty work when necessary, Don got respect as a manager because he gave respect to the folks working for him. He was, and still remains, a "straight shooter" in every sense of the phrase. So it don't surprise me much that he was unable to remain quiet while his Boeing family was under attack.

-- Bill, who's sorry our executives don't seem to understand the difference between "leadership" and "command"...