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Boeing CEO admits employees retaliated against whistleblowers in bombshell testimony
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun admitted that he was aware that employees at the company retaliated against whistleblowers at a Senate hearing Tuesday where lawmakers addressed the company's recent scandals.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) was the one to directly ask Calhoun, point blank, how many Boeing employees have been fired for retaliating against the whistleblowers.
'Senator, I don't have that number on the tip of my tongue. But I know it -- I know it happens,' Calhoun said, according to a transcript from CNN. 'I am happy to follow up and get you that number.'
While he later admitted to Blumenthal that Boeing 'had fired and disciplined people,' he did not specify the precise nature of the retaliation or link it to the deaths of the whistleblowers John Barnett and Joshua Dean.
Blumenthal read Boeing's code of conduct to Calhoun, which directly stated an employee was not allowed to 'retaliate against or punish anyone who speaks up to report a concern.'
With protesters in the audience, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun takes his seat to testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Investigations to tell lawmakers about troubles at the aircraft manufacturer since a panel blew out of a Boeing 737 Max during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Some protestors were the family members of those killed in Boeing crashes
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun looks at protesters and families of victims as he arrives
He continued: 'And yet, the whistleblowers that we have heard, including testifying before this committee, have reported a host of retaliatory behaviors, from reassignment, to exclusion from key meeting, to being sidelined and sidetracked in their careers, verbal harassment and threats, and even physical violence.
'After whistleblower, John Barnett, raised his concerns about missing parts, he reported that his supervisor called him 19 times in one day and 21 times another day. And when Barnett asked his supervisor about those calls, he was told, quote, 'I'm going to push you until you break.' He broke.
'When whistleblower, Sam Mohawk, raised concerns about Boeing's concealment, concealment of nonconforming parts, he was put in charge of completing correct -- corrective action investigations with an impossible deadline and then threatened with formal discipline, including firing. He couldn't meet that deadline.
'When I hear about these experiences, I wonder whether Boeing really wants change. How can you reassure us that Boeing is going to, in fact, end this broken safety culture?
Calhoun said he had listened to the whistleblowers that appeared at the Senator's hearing, and that they were sincere in their remarks.
'With respect to our company, we do have a policy. I often, often cite and reward the people who bring issues forward, even if they have huge consequence on our company and our production levels, et cetera,' said Calhoun.
'My leadership team does that. We survey our people with respect to, do they feel empowered to speak up? That survey performance gets better and better. It's never perfect.
'We worked hard to reach out to our people. Immediately following Alaska, we had a stand down. The stand downs continue and they rotate. And we listen to everybody.
'I'm trying to deal with 30,000 ideas on how we can move forward.'
Many of those holding signs behind Calhoun had connections to those who died or were injured aboard Boeing planes
In January, an Alaska Airlines operated Boeing plane lost a door mid-flight. Multiple passengers aboard that flight are suing Boeing and the airline
On Monday, the subcommittee released a report with explosive allegations from a Mohawk, a Boeing quality insurance inspector, said the company installed faulty parts onto planes and that he was later told by his managers to conceal the evidence from government regulators.
Mohawk's allegations are just the latest in a deluge of whistleblower complaints against Boeing this year.
Barnett, 62, had worked for Boeing for 32 years before retiring in 2017, with 17 of those years spent as a quality manager.
His death sparked huge uproar when his body was found the same day he was due to testify against Boeing after alleging under-pressure workers were deliberately fitting sub-standard parts to aircraft on the assembly line.
The coroner later ruled he died by suicide from a self-inflicted gun shot wound. The autopsy report said he was suffering from 'chronic stress', anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder at the time of his death.
He was involved in a lawsuit with Boeing up until the day he died and had been in Charleston undergoing legal interviews as part of the process.
Former quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, Joshua Dean, 45, died from a mystery infection less than two months after Barnett.
Dean previously said he was fired from his job as a quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems in April 2023 for questioning standards at the supplier's plant in Wichita, Kansas, in October 2022.
Boeing has long denied Dean, and other whistleblower claims that the company willfully ignored safety warnings.
John Barnett, 62, died in March by suicide in the midst of a legal action against Boeing
Former quality auditor at Spirit AeroSystems, Joshua Dean died from a mystery infection
Before his opening remarks, Calhoun stood up from the witness table to apologize to the bereft family members of Boeing 737 Max victims.
'I'm deeply sorry…my whole team at Boeing, everybody worldwide past and present,' Calhoun told the audience in the crowded Senate room.
Onlookers held up portraits of victims who had died on Boeing planes, and there were too many faces to count.
Boeing has made headlines in recent years for broken landing gears, doors popping off mid-flight and faulty software systems leading to catastrophic crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019 that resulted in scores of deaths.
The company's repeated failure to fix the plentiful problems has led to skepticism on Capitol Hill and lawmakers torched Calhoun for his role in the airline's downfall Tuesday.
'It is a moment of reckoning for Boeing,' Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., the subcommittee's chairman told the Boeing CEO, warning him that he has a dozen whistleblowers ready to dish dirt on the American airplane giant.
On Monday, the subcommittee released a report with explosive allegations from a Boeing quality insurance inspector, Sam Mohawk, who said the company installed faulty parts onto planes and that he was later told by his managers to conceal the evidence from government regulators.
Mohawk's allegations are just the latest in a deluge of whistleblower complaints against Boeing this year.
But the whistleblower's revelations seems to be an aside as during the hearing, lawmakers aimed their blows at Boeing's CEO.
'Mr. Calhoun, let's put it very bluntly, 346 people died because of a faulty control system, the MCAS system, that Boeing knew was going to cause a crash at some point,' Blumenthal said.
'I would not say the latter part of that sentence,' Calhoun retorted. 'There was a judgement made by ourselves our design engineers and the certification process that that could never happen, but it did.'
'Now you are going to make me really angry,' Blumenthal responded, visibly looking upset by the CEO's response.
Blumenthal responded, visibly looking upset by the CEO's response.
A faulty door plug in the Boeing 737 Max 9 is thought to have been the reason for the blowout
Family members of the crash victims of the Boeing 737 MAX8 in Ethiopia, hold photographs during a news conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday
'Boeing was charged with defrauding the United States of America and the prosecution was deferred because Boeing paid a fine, but no individual was held accountable,' Blumenthal stated.
'Senator, it's wrong for me to re-investigate an investigation that was thorough, thorough, thorough,' Calhoun responded.
Shouldn't individuals who are still at Boeing be held accountable, Blumenthal asked.
'Senator Blumenthal we are responsible,' Calhoun admitted after Blumenthal's temper flared.
Later, Republican Josh Hawley, R-Mo., incredulously asked the CEO how much he gets paid to oversee such disasters at Boeing.
'What is it you get paid to do exactly,' Hawley asked.
'I get paid to run the Boeing company,' Calhoun shot back.
Hawley then asked if Calhoun's job responsibilities and nearly $33 million dollar per year salary are based on transparency and safety.
'You're under investigation for falsifying 787 inspection records, Boeing is under criminal investigation for the Alaska Airlines flight, you were investigated by DOJ for criminal conspiracy to defraud the FAA,' Hawley said. 'This is all under your tenure.'
'Doesn't sound like a lot of transparency to me,' the Republican told Calhoun.
A placard with photos of those killed on Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 is held up as Boeing's CEO Dave Calhoun testifies before the Senate
Boeing has been the subject of multiple investigations from federal authorities regarding the safety and quality of its planes in recent years
Boeing and Alaska Airlines are facing separate criminal probes after a door blew out from a plane in January. Both have denied wrongdoing.
'I am proud of having taken the job,' Calhoun told Hawley. 'I am proud of our safety record.'
'Behind you the folks are showing the people who are the victims of your safety record,' the Missouri Republican said.
'I think we can all see them and I think the American public, when they fear to get on their airplanes, they understand your safety record.'
'And I think its a travesty you are still in your job,' the Republican concluded.
During the hearing Calhoun reiterated the steps taken by the company in recent months in response to the January Alaska Airlines flight.
The incident prompted a frantic all-hands-on-deck meeting with C-suite staffers in the days after the door dislodged mid-flight.
Further, Boeing paid $61 million to Alaska Airlines in March to compensate them for the disaster.
'In our factories and in our supply chain, we took immediate action to ensure the specific circumstances that led to this accident would not happen again,' the CEO testified.
Boeing has said it reworked employee incentives, replaced senior staff on its commercial plane unit and is searching for new suppliers to address some of its problems.
The door blew out while the plane was cruising at 16,00 feet, forcing a quick response from the pilots to get the craft grounded to protect passengers
Boeing's CEO Dave Calhoun testified he is proud of the company's safety record despite the high-profile safety incidents
Still, the lawmakers did not seem to buy the CEO's answers.
'Instead of asking what has caused Boeing's safety culture to erode, you and your colleagues in the C-suite have deflected blame, looked the other way, and catered to your shareholders instead,' Blumenthal said.
'Boeing needs to stop thinking about the next earning call, and start thinking about the next generation.'