Letters: Boeing’s bad deal for employees

Re “Boeing’s hollow victory,” Opinion, Jan. 7

The vote in favor of a contract that cuts benefits significantly in exchange for Boeing machinists in Washington state being able to keep their jobs is another corporate victory in the business world’s war with American workers.

Manufacturing jobs and trade unions created the American middle class. The three decades immediately following World War II provided the greatest number of Americans with the most prosperity in our history.

But in the 1980s, union-busting and “trickle-down” economics started shifting greater burdens onto the middle class. The dismantling of many worker protections and the loss of higher-paying union jobs set off the middle class’ disintegration.

Boeing’s behavior continues that destruction.

Richard Parr

Santa Monica

Hedrick Smith criticizes Boeing for paying no federal corporate taxes and strong-arming unions.

First of all, Smith should direct his concern about taxes to the federal government, as Boeing plays by the IRS’ rules.

Second, Boeing (from which I am retired) employs about 170,000 people, providing greater-than-average pay that supports a very strong middle class. Boeing also is the largest U.S. exporter of goods in dollar sales, which contributes significantly to our trade balance.

Finally, Smith’s point about Boeing receiving tax incentives from the state of Washington ignores the overall economic contribution Boeing makes to the state as a result of it providing secure, high-paying jobs.

Boeing is a great American company that provides high-paying jobs, is key to our national defense and economy, and plays by the rules.

Frank Deni

Lake Forest, Calif.

The middle-class employees at Airbus, Boeing’s biggest competitor, enjoy job security. As Smith notes, in Germany (where Airbus is based, along with France), the pay and benefits of middle-class workers have increased five times faster than at U.S. companies.

Boeing’s middle-class workers have been subjected to corporate extortion as a way to enrich the company’s executives and stockholders.

I don’t want to demean the Boeing workforce, but when you’re worried about paying the bills or sending your kids to college, it’s kind of hard to bring your “A” game to work every day. Which employees do you want tightening the bolts on your plane’s landing gear?

Errol Miller

Chino

ALSO:

Letters: Building bigger houses

Letters: Rodman’s faux diplomacy in North Korea

Letters: Fight terrorism -- by changing U.S. foreign policy