Boeing

President George W. Bush today, at a White House ceremony, recognized The Boeing Company for its support of its National Guard and Reservist employees, and highlighted the company as a recipient of the 2001 Employer Support Freedom Award.

Earlier today, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Dr. David S. C. Chu awarded Boeing and four other companies the Freedom Award at a ceremony held at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. The National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve (ESGR), is an agency within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs, and annually recognizes five companies for outstanding support of its Guard and Reserve employees.

Rudy de Leon, senior vice president of Washington, D.C., Operations, accepted the award for Boeing.

"Today more than ever, the Guard and Reserve are critical elements of America's total force," said de Leon. "I'm proud to accept this award. Boeing's innovative policies allow our employees to serve our country as members of the armed forces. We are more proud of them than ever before."

Boeing received the award for standardizing policies and procedures dealing with military duty for reservists and for creating programs to facilitate communications between reservists and their supervisors. One such program is the Boeing Guard and Reserve Network, which has membership from employees and senior staff company wide. It acts as an ombudsman organization to further communications between the two parties. The Network instituted a web page to disseminate information about the company's policies, and includes on-line procedures to submit leaves of absence for military duty.

Jim Dagnon, Boeing senior vice president of People, said, "Boeing is committed to developing ways to support the company's Guard and Reserve members. We want our employees to know that company stands behind those who are called upon to serve."

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