An interesting thing happened on the picket line at Boeing Wichita this week.
One of the strikers I interviewed about the work stoppage talked for a while on his views and gave me his name. Nothing unusual there. But it turns out, he didn’t give me his name at all. He gave me the name of a Boeing supervisor. Imagine the supervisor’s surprise to see his name in the paper with comments that didn’t come from him. The Eagle ran a correction today.
It seems, though, that I’m not alone. The same thing happened to one of the TV stations over the weekend, a Boeing spokesman told me. Like me, the striker gave the TV reporter the name of his supervisor instead of his own. Come on. A little honesty, folks. It’s important for the public to hear from the union why they’re out there walking the picket lines. Strikers complain that the public sees them only as greedy Boeing workers. They can’t counter that if they don’t say why they’re walking the line. As in most things, the actions of a few give everyone a black eye.
6 Comments
Perhaps they fear retaliation?
“Perhaps they fear retaliation?”
Hmm…company hires you to do a job, you choose NOT to do a job to make them give you more money to do that job, and repeat this process every 3-4 years or so…why would the company be upset?
Maybe Congress should use this method when they vote themselves a pay raise — just vote under an assumed name.
Retaliation? What, from their own Union Bosses?
It’s typical. Blame management for everything. I understand. If not, then I guess the thugs with the concert shoes and the sledge hammer come out and play.
Maybe it’s just goofballs playing a prank. It was pretty funny! (apologies to Molly of course
)
More likely, they are embarrassed by their own actions so they claim to be someone else.
So, a worker punked a supervisor and used you as a tool. Tough.
If you’re going to hold yourself out as a journalist, don’t whine when you have to make a correction to an article you decided to print without a proper investigation.
Also, if you’re assigned to this story and you don’t already know why the people are on strike, well, then you need to educate yourself.