No argument here, but our engineers (all being non-unionized) learned a few things about Boeing (unionized) engineers when Seattle acquired our division in 1996… one being the seeming universal unhappiness of Boeing engineers back then. Phil Condit was running Boeing at that time (and for several years after); he came up as an engineer and had a substantial and enviable background as such. The acquisition rewarded us with unpleasant attitudes and earfuls from some of our Boeing counterparts. Why: 1) They felt that our division was supplanting and checking their own efforts (as if we had a choice); and 2) they were resentful of our non-union status as it related to the treatment they received back in Seattle. Where our division enjoyed excellent benefits, retirement packages, and profit-sharing (the smart way to attract and keep employees), our counterparts were locked into apparently lesser packages that could not be easily – if at all – negotiated out of. Again, Condit was head man then and running the show. He must have known of the poor morale of his engineers, and (having once been an engineer himself) had some empathy for them, and yet…
Me? Even after working face-to-face with visiting engineers from Seattle and hearing it all, I’d “get” to hear it all again in our follow-up phone calls. During one of the visits, two smiling, Seattle engineers I was working with inveigled their way into my cubicle on their last week here, ostensibly to admire the vintage Boeing Company enameled sign hanging on my wall. As if I wasn’t there, they conversed on the issue of I actually having a Boeing sign, and that it should come down. As soon as they left my cubicle, I took it down and locked it up in my desk for the time being. Thank you, Mr. Condit.
