Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun denies whistleblower retaliation during Senate hearing
Boeing Chief Executive Dave Calhoun spent two hours Tuesday trying to woo many critics who doubt the troubled plane maker’s commitment to safety since two fatal crashes six years ago.
Democrat and Republican lawmakers alike blasted Calhoun during a Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing about a series of plane crashes that have plagued the company this year—the latest safety lapses since two crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed nearly 350 people. .
Calhoun, testifying for the first and possibly last time, denied widespread allegations that Boeing retaliated against workers who raised safety concerns.
“I often cite and reward people who bring problems, even if they have great consequences for our company and our production,” he said. “We are working hard to reach our people.”
The beginning of the trial is the incident that happened on an Alaska Airlines flight in January, when a part of the Boeing 737 Max 9 plane broke off from the fuselage mid-flight. Calhoun told lawmakers that shortly after the Alaska Airlines flight, Boeing held company-wide feedback sessions with employees about ways to improve safety, and that the planemaker made major changes to its grant structure last year.
“I’m trying to deal with 30,000 ideas on how we can move forward,” he said.
That’s not what current and former employees are saying. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who is chairing the hearing, told Calhoun that a number of libertarians have reported numerous forms of retaliation to the subcommittee, including retaliatory retaliation, exclusion from important meetings, verbal abuse, and even physical threats.
Boeing manager and whistleblower John Barnett, who died in March in an apparent suicide, received 21 calls from his boss on one day, and 19 on another day, after Barnett raised concerns about missing parts. According to Blumenthal, when Barnett spoke to the manager about the phone calls, the manager told her he would “push her to the point of breaking.”
“I listened to the bad things that came out of your ears,” Calhoun told Blumenthal. “Something went wrong, and I believe their words are sincere.”
After the Alaska Airlines disaster a wave of whistleblowers added fuel to the Boeing investigation. Before the hearing, the subcommittee released the claims of a quality inspector, Sam Mohawk, who alleged that Boeing had lost track of parts of up to 400 737 Max planes.
One of the main questions the subcommittee addressed was whether Boeing had really made significant changes to its quality and safety controls over the past five years.
In 2021, the company settled a lawsuit with the Department of Justice after two plane crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people. Boeing paid a $243.6 million fine to avoid charges for lying to regulators about an aircraft system. The DOJ now alleges that Boeing failed to make agreed-upon changes to prevent similar incidents from happening again.
“I think you’ve shown that you can talk about these changes, but actually doing them would require a different team,” Blumenthal said.
Josh Hawley, a Republican senator from Missouri, accused Calhoun of “mining” the company, saying the CEO deliberately chose to increase profits and the share price of the security.
“We’ve had many whistleblowers come before this committee and say Boeing is cutting corners on quality and safety,” Hawley said. “Not just in the past, but now.”
Hawley even asked Calhoun why he hadn’t resigned, but the CEO defended his record at the head of Boeing.
“I’m proud to take the job,” Calhoun replied. “I am proud of our safety record. I’m proud of everything we’ve done.”
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