Anyone who’s ever worked on a production line knows it can be mind-numbing work.
One of the most miserable summers of my life was spent at an orange-juice factory outside the town where I grew up. The job amounted to taking those little plastic containers of OJ used in hospitals and other places and putting them in a carton.Two at a time. Again and again and again. I’ll never forget the day I had a small paper cut on my hand. Any idea what orange juice does does to that? It was agony. For 8 long hours.
So I’m not totally surprised that possibly some Boeing workers might look for something to ease the monotony.
Still, I don’t think this was exactly what officials had in mind.
Federal agents swooped down on the Ridley plant early yesterday and hauled out more than 30 current employees. U.S. attorney Zane Memeger, in a press conference later yesterday afternoon, said it all surrounds prescription medications, mostly some high-powered painkillers such as oxycodone.
First alerted by the company, the feds launched a four-year investigation that resulted in yesterday’s arrests.
No doubt a lot of people are wondering about what comes out of that plant, namely Chinook helicopters and fuselages for the V-22 Osprey. Boeing officials stress they were the ones who actually blew the whistle on the drug ring in the plant and called in the feds. They also say there was never any indication that quality controls at the facility were being compromised.
There are more than 6,000 workers at the Boeing plant. Yesterday 37 of them ran afoul of the law.
No one will be talking about them today. Everyone will be talking about the “Boeing 37.”
In the meantime, work at the plant will go on. That’s the way it works.
It’s not always fair, I’m the first to admit it.
I will no doubt get calls today saying we never show up for the good news. Actually that’s not true. We gave front-page coverage just last week to the 50th anniversary of the Chinook and the new production facility at the plant that should insure that work – and those key jobs – stay here.
Boeing is one of the last icons of Delco’s industrial golden age. With the recent announcements that both Sunoco and ConocoPhillips are looking to sell their refineries – and shut them down if a buyer can’t be found – Boeing is more important then ever.
The rogue acts of 37 workers are not going to change that.
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