A letter from the CEO of my company.

[Heracles 417]

Ever since the civil rights movement the left has veered off in the wrong direction.. They bring up slavery etc and tear up the county for it. Get over it. NEWSFLASH!! Every single country has it's good and extremely bad past. Funnily enough these so-called educated liberals fail to acknowledge this fact. So many other civilizations where slaves for 4-500 years and I mean stone breaking hardworking slaves, not cotton pickers or farmers. Do you see any other race including Africans in Africa complaining about this... Hell NO..

I wonder what history book you read to suggest that slave workers on cotton, tobacco or sugar plantations were engaged in some sort of foot kicking doss... and that the work there was any less brutal than those forced to work in diamond mines, for example...

I'm sorry, as much as convenient as it would be for your "anti-liberal" argument, its incredibly low to relativise slavery...

Are you seriously going to sit here and deny the convenient use of slavery and racism card by certain people in America as a justification of their circumstances and behaviour?

Australians where exiled and tortured to death, as convicts, by the British. By far that is much much worse than being a slave. Do you see them hating England? They got over it and moved on. Australians work hard and have built an amazing country for themselves. A country with one of the highest standards of living and highest human development opportunities in the world..

Edited January 31, 2007 by Infidel

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Ever since the civil rights movement the left has veered off in the wrong direction.. They bring up slavery etc and tear up the county for it. Get over it. NEWSFLASH!! Every single country has it's good and extremely bad past. Funnily enough these so-called educated liberals fail to acknowledge this fact. So many other civilizations where slaves for 4-500 years and I mean stone breaking hardworking slaves, not cotton pickers or farmers. Do you see any other race including Africans in Africa complaining about this... Hell NO..

I wonder what history book you read to suggest that slave workers on cotton, tobacco or sugar plantations were engaged in some sort of foot kicking doss... and that the work there was any less brutal than those forced to work in diamond mines, for example...

I'm sorry, as much as convenient as it would be for your "anti-liberal" argument, its incredibly low to relativise slavery...

Are you seriously going to sit here and deny the convenient use of slavery and racism card by certain people in America as a justification of their circumstances and behaviour?

Australians where exiled and tortured to death, as convicts, by the British. By far that is much much worse than being a slave. Do you see them hating England? They got over it and moved on. Australians work hard and have built an amazing country for themselves. A country with one of the highest standards of living and highest human development opportunities in the world..

I'm not denying it - my comment merely addressed your suggestion that plantation work (which was responsible for the deaths of many thousands of people across several hundred years of European history) was some sort of "soft option" next to "stone breaking" hard labour.

[Heracles 417]

I'm not denying it - my comment merely addressed your suggestion that plantation work (which was responsible for the deaths of many thousands of people across several hundred years of European history) was some sort of "soft option" next to "stone breaking" hard labour.

My point was people have to get over it in the US. Let it go. It is the only way to move on..

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

I'm not denying it - my comment merely addressed your suggestion that plantation work (which was responsible for the deaths of many thousands of people across several hundred years of European history) was some sort of "soft option" next to "stone breaking" hard labour.

My point was people have to get over it in the US. Let it go. It is the only way to move on..

If that was your point - your claim was that they should get over it because their historical experience "wasn't that bad". You can't "move on" by pretending that it didn't happen, or by belittling the significance of the event - that's simply denial.

[Ladylethal 12]

To me all this text does is saying that we should accept everything that's wrong with our country, politics, etc, just 'cus we have a comfortable life, which is not even true in many cases.

[diadromous mermaid 36]

There's nothing inherently wrong with a company CEO attempting to boost the morale of the company work force, especially if demoralized, but typically that is done by reinforcing the vision of the company and underlining the appreciation the company will register to the contribution that each is and will make to its future. Political commentaries are usually verboten, unless they represent the corporate mission statement. Let's hope this CEO is also representing the unanimous views of the Board of Directors and shareholder group, otherwise, despite being the founder, his job might be up for grabs. <a CEO that does not espouse her political views>

Edited January 31, 2007 by diadromous mermaid

[GaryC 7]

So, because he is a CEO, expressing political opinions is "abuse"? I see no threat stated or implied in his letter.

Well it was certainly an abuse of his role to say: Fact is, we are the largest group of ungrateful, spoiled brats the world has ever seen. No wonder the world loves the U.S. Yet has a great disdain for its citizens. They see us for what we are. The most blessed people in the world who do nothing but complain about what we don't have and what we hate about the country instead of thanking the good Lord we live here.

I would not appreciate working for a man who grouped me in with "ungrateful, spoiled brats, etc" when in reality I am unbelievably aware of lucky I am to live in a free country with all of the things that I have access to . . .

Well Kitkat I know that you understand just how good we have it here. And judging from a few of the comments here I think "ungrateful, spoiled brats" fits perfectly. To not be thankful of the tremendous gift our forefathers gave us is the biggest sin of all. It shows how consented and ungrateful we have become.

Gary, I think your confusing gratitude with servitude. As employees, you don't have to be grateful to your employer any more than your employer should be grateful for your service. You are paid for your work - your work makes them money...it's a two-way street. If your employer doesn't want to pay you what you are worth, which I realize we've gotten into this argument before, but...it is NOT entirely determined by the market, you have a right to gripe...hell YES! Unthankful my #######...sheesh...you think wealth is spread to the lowly from the wealthy out of charity...holy cow. When it comes to jobs, it's contractual - not emotional.

Just curious - have you ever belonged to a union?

I think your confusing gratitude with entitlement. All the employer has a responsibility to me for is to give me the opportunity to work and improve myself. They are under no obligation for anything else. I earn what I am worth. Any company that does otherwise is headed down the path of going bankrupt. It is 100% determined by the market because the product he sells is valued 100% by the market.

But we are digressing here. This isn't about my company or my CEO. This is about being grateful for the blessings that our country and God has given us. Being grateful does not mean being satisfied. You should always strive for more. But you should also recognize that we are living in the best country in the world and it got that way through the sacrifices of the people that came before us.

Now, since you brought it up. Yes. I have been in several unions. I am a 15 year member of the IBEW and a 10 year member of the CWA and a 10 year member of the Teachers Union (I worked for our school district). I couldn't wait to get away from those crooks. All they wanted was my dues. They didn't give a damn about me. I earn MUCH more in non-union jobs. I advance MUCH faster in non-union jobs. I go through MUCH LESS BS without the union. I will never go back to working in a union shop. They hold back those who want to excel and support the lazy ones that just want to skate by. In a union job I only advanced or got a raise when the contract called for it. It held me back. In this job or any other non-union job I was paid what I was worth to the company, I advanced when my skills came up and I was given respect because they knew that if they didn't give me what I earned and deserved I could alway go to a different company that would.

I see this every day where I work. Our company does contract industrial maintenance. My assignment is a Caterpillar plant here in Peoria. Up until we got here they had union cat maint workers. They were very good at what they did but because of the unions and the contracts they got lazy and complacent. For the first year here I only did high level tech support. That meant that the union guys did the work and I was called when they got stuck on a hard problem. I got to know those guys very well. I saw it day after day. They knew that their contract protected them so they only did the bare minimum. No one had any reason to put any more effort into what they were doing. There were guys there that had 30+ years in as a repairman but knew NOTHING about fixing the machines. When one of these guys got on a machine and got stuck his buddies would come over and fix it for him and allow him to take the credit. It was amazing. There were 2 or 3 guys that knew it all and the rest were just feeding off of them.

A few years ago Cat decided to do something about it. They stopped hiring new repairmen and when people retired or quit they would reshuffle the work force and give ATS an area to maintain. They found that down time dropped dramatically. The same number of people were working, they (us) were getting paid more than the contract guys but because efficiency went up they were willing to pay ATS more to do the job. Caterpillar had a record year last year because in part of the more efficient maintenance. Myself and the other guys working for ATS get better pay and benefits than the cat guys did and we do a better job because we advance on our efforts and not by some contract. I have gotten 2 raises in the 18 months I have worked here. If I were a union worker I may have gotten one.

When we take over an area in one of the plants we offer the cat workers a job with us. The ones that accept (there are a lot of them) say they like it MUCH better. They have better pay and fringe benefits and there job security is better. Cat would lay them off when things got slow. ATS has never done that. The first building I was in had a slow down 3 months ago. They layed off about half of the cat workers there and they also eliminated my position. Did I go home on unemployment? NO! I was transfered to a different building that wasn't slow. I didn't miss a day.

I guess my point in all of this is that instead of relying on others (company or government) you should rely on yourself. Everyone including yourself, the company and the nation is better off. This entitlement mentality has gotten into all parts of our lives. It has to stop. It will be the death of our country and our way of life. It only serves to coddle the lazy and inhibit the ambitious.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

There's nothing inherently wrong with a company CEO attempting to boost the morale of the company work force, especially if demoralized, but typically that is done by reinforcing the vision of the company and underlining the appreciation the company will register to the contribution that each is and will make to its future. Political commentaries are usually verboten, unless they represent the corporate mission statement. Let's hope this CEO is also representing the unanimous views of the Board of Directors and shareholder group, otherwise, despite being the founder, his job might be up for grabs. <a CEO that does not espouse her political views>

I'm glad someone pointed that out.

[almaty 19]

####### is a typical blowhard chopf##k CEO....

[Jenn! 918]

I just noticed that ####### didn't even write the letter, his "friend" did. Maybe it was an email forward.

[GaryC 7]

####### is a typical blowhard chopf##k CEO....

No, I have met him. He is a very nice guy that remembers his roots and respects all of his employees. There is nothing "blowhard" about him. Your just demonstrating class envy. It's not very pretty man, you should open your eyes.

[Henia 11]

So, I starting thinking, ''What we are so unhappy about?''

Is it that we have electricity and running water 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Is our unhappiness the result of having air conditioning in the summer and heating in the winter? Could it be that 95.4 percent of these unhappy folks have a job? Maybe it is the ability to walk into a grocery store at any time and see more food in moments than Darfur has seen in the last year?

Ye really... many countries in the world, still donnot have running clean water on a daily basis.

I think many of us with all this modern amenities have too much time on our hands, to sit and ponder 'why my life sux' and never really appreciate life.

Good post by the way...thanks for sharing!

Edited January 31, 2007 by Henia

[almaty 19]

####### is a typical blowhard chopf##k CEO....

No, I have met him. He is a very nice guy that remembers his roots and respects all of his employees. There is nothing "blowhard" about him. Your just demonstrating class envy. It's not very pretty man, you should open your eyes.

no class envy at all..i happy with my lot in life,.and one is not envious for saying one is a chopf##k..look underneath my name, brother gary

...but i been around and work work with CEOs in my current job for allot of companies...it came off to me as that...

[GaryC 7]

Richard W. Blaudow, Chairman & CEO

####### Blaudow is one of the co-founders of Advanced Technology Services, Inc. (ATS) and is currently Chairman and CEO. He began his career at Caterpillar in 1969 in the Plant Operations Training Program. He later assumed the position of Staff Engineer in Plant Engineering in the East Peoria facility and held positions of increasing responsibilities. He started and managed the Electronic Repair Department at the East Peoria Caterpillar plant. This Electronic Repair Department later became the startup group of ATS. In November 1996, Mr. Blaudow, along with other investors, purchased the remaining outstanding shares of ATS from Caterpillar.

Mr. Blaudow received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering Technology from Southern Illinois University in 1970. He serves on the Board of Directors for Excel Foundry, Inc., M&H Logistics, TDI Products, Inc. and the Peoria Civic Federation Board. He served for several years on SIUC's Industrial Advisory Council of the Department of Electrical Engineering and as Chairman of the SIUC Engineering Annex Advisory Committee. In October 1998, Mr. Blaudow was named an SIU Distinguished Alumni in recognition of his accomplishments and contributions to SIU. Mr. Blaudow is currently a member of the Chief Executive Organization, World Presidents Organization, and a former member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

http://www.advancedtech.com/arccms/about-team1.html

I have worked for a lot of companies in the last 30 years. ATS is the best by a long shot. Those that bash Mr. Blaudow have no clue what they are talking about. It's just their knee-jerk reaction to someone that made it. It demonstrates the difference between liberalism and conservatism. Liberals distrust anyone that has more power than they do. Liberals think that they are "owed" something. Conservatives know the path to success is hard work and self-determination. Conservatives are grateful for what they have and recognize the sacrifice's that other made so they can have this.

[GaryC 7]

####### is a typical blowhard chopf##k CEO....

No, I have met him. He is a very nice guy that remembers his roots and respects all of his employees. There is nothing "blowhard" about him. Your just demonstrating class envy. It's not very pretty man, you should open your eyes.

no class envy at all..i happy with my lot in life,.and one is not envious for saying one is a chopf##k..look underneath my name, brother gary

...but i been around and work work with CEOs in my current job for allot of companies...it came off to me as that...

He runs his company in a very similar way that the email puts out. Of the 30 or so guys that work with me none were offended. In fact it was printed out by a lot of them and given to the ones that don't have a company email address. Everyone saw it as inspirational. I am so happy that I finally found a company that treats me like this. I intend to work here until I retire.