THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5A
Boeing to cut more jobs
The Associated Press
SEATTLE — Boeing Co. expects to eliminate 5,000 more jobs next year in addition to the nearly 30,000 cuts the aerospace company has made since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the company said yesterday.
Half of the new cuts would be made through attrition and the rest through layoffs in the commercial airplane division, unit chief executive Alan Mullaly said yesterday.
The company signaled more than a month ago it would need to make further cuts because of a long slump. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Boeing has deferred deliveries of more than 500 jets as airlines, bleeding billions of dollars, canceled or rescheduled orders.
By the end of 2003, the commercial planes division expects to have a work force of 60,000, from its current 65,000, spokesman Bill Cogswell said. The first layoff notices will go out on tomorrow and take effect on Jan.24, he said.
For the Machinists union, which has lost thousands of workers in the past year and lost a contract battle in September aimed at gaining better job security guarantees, the prospect of additional losses comes hard.
Boeing's engineering and technical workers union, which is voting on contract proposals from Boeing, also was dismayed by the news.
"One more layoff is one more too many," said Bill Dugovich, a spokesman for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.
The company has spent the last few weeks trying to determine how many people it would need in the coming year to match employment with production levels. Cogswell said.
Most of the new reductions will come in the Puget Sound area, Cogswell said, where Boeing builds its jetliners in factories in Everett and Renton.
"We believe the employment reductions will impact all of our areas, all of our employees, nonsalaried members and executives across the board," said Cogswell.
Boeing is based in Chicago, and its commercial plane division is based in Renton.
Westar executive pleads innocent
The Associated Press
TOPEKA — Westar Energy chief executive David Wittig and a former bank officer have pleaded innocent to charges that they illegally steered a $1.5 million loan for Wittig into a real estate investment for the banker.
Wittig received the loan last year from the Capital City Bank in Topika, with the help of former president Clinton Odell Weidner II. A federal grand jury indictment alleges that instead of using the money as documents suggested he would. Wittig turned it over to Weidner, who bought into
an exclusive housing development planned outside Scottsdale. Ariz.
The charges against the two include money laundering, filing false documents, conspiracy and misapplication of bank funds. The indictment does not say why Wittig would allow the money to go to Weidner.
The allegations are not related to Westar's operations. Westar is the state's largest electric company, providing power to 647,000 customers, but it also has nonutility interests, most notably its 88 percent share of the Protection One security alarm firm.
Wittig is on administrative leave without pay from his position as Westar's chairman, chief executive officer and president. Weidner left the Topeka bank earlier this year.
The two men had their first appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Topeka to hear the charges against them and enter their innocent pleas.
Neither Wittig nor Weidner had any comment after the 45-minute hearing, and their attorneys declined comment. During the hearing, O'Hara reminded the two defendants that any statements could become part of prosecutors' case.
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