Quit blaming Boeing workers for troubles

While I realize these are harsh economic times, it might be best to forgo the cartoon if your paper is so desperate that it would print such amateur artwork as “Shers” (Feb. 28), not to mention the total propaganda regarding the Boeing labor strike.

The cartoon showed an overweight bald white male executive giving a layoff notice to a (presumably) illiterate machinist, who asked, “Why are you laying off so many machinists? We only went on strike for two months, costing the company billions, delaying the 787 and losing them (sic) orders.” How come we never see a cartoon with the lazy, salaried, educated office group hanging around the water cooler discussing golf, sailing and the joys of vacationing at resorts costing a fortune for the rest of us?

Clearly (I note with extreme sarcasm), that would be just as realistic. Do you think that perhaps Boeing’s woes are in part because of executive pay? In a year where they lost “them orders,” McNerney made $19 MILLION dollars. How much did the rest of the executive staff rake in? They have also stated they’re going to continue to give bonuses, etc. rather than try to salvage any jobs, and did it ever occur to Shers that upper management probably offered a bad contract to labor to incite a strike, thus allowing suppliers to catch up with back orders during the strike period? (Lack of parts really was a major factor in the delay of the 787.)

There are many facets to running a company and it’s way past time that we blame only union workers for every grievance. They don’t make executive decisions. Blame bad management, the economy, the recession, George Bush, whomever, whatever, but seriously, it’s time to quit dumping on the workers. Oh, and for the record, it’s not just machinists getting laid off.

Jean Bolton

Kent