Boeing (BA) has made a critical change to its company during a time when it is struggling to repair itself from significant financial and reputational damage stemming from concerns over the safety and quality of its planes.
The company is also facing a major strike from roughly 33,000 unionized workers, which has been ongoing for over a month. As the workers fight for improved benefits such as wage increases, retirement security, etc., analysts have estimated that the strike will cost Boeing about $1 billion per month.
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Boeing has already lost $5.7 billion from operations during the third quarter of this year; as its wallet shrinks, the company has opted to cut a controversial team.
Related: Boeing makes a harsh decision to repair its finances amid strike
Boeing’s global diversity, equity and inclusion department just got the boot, a decision that was made under the company’s new CEO Kelly Ortberg, according to a report from Bloomberg.
Instead of being laid off, the employees who worked under that department will join another human resources team that is “focused on talent and employee experience,” according to the report.
The move from Boeing comes after Dave Calhoun, the company’s previous CEO who resigned in August, made a vow in 2020 to increase by 20% the number of Black employees at the company by 2025.
Boeing Co. signage outside the company’s manufacturing facility in Renton, Washington, US, on Thursday, Sept. 12, 2024.
Boeing managed to increase the number of Black employees at its company by 17% since 2020, making its U.S. workforce 7.5% Black, according to Boeing’s latest Sustainability & Social Impact Report. It also managed to boost its racial and ethnic minority representation in its U.S. workforce by 37.6% in 2023.
Boeing warned of exposure for its “woke policies”
In response to Boeing’s decision to cut its DEI team, conservative activist Robby Starbuck took to social media platform X to claim that he previously notified Boeing’s CEO and chair via email that he was planning to “expose their woke policies” at the company.
According to Starbuck, some of these policies allegedly include intersectionality training, employee resource groups that are divided based on race and sexuality, funding pride events, etc.
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“Our campaigns are so effective that we’re getting some of the biggest corporations on earth to change their policies without me even posting a video first just from the fear they have of being the next company we expose,” wrote Starbuck in a post on X.
Starbuck has previously rallied for company’s such Tractor Supply, Harley-Davidson, and Lowe’s to cut their DEI policies, and they have successfully given into the pressure to avoid losing business from its conservative consumers.
Companies fear facing scrutiny from DEI policies
Major companies across the nation have been cutting their DEI policies due to fear of facing legal and reputational harm to their business. According to a recent analysis from Bloomberg, more than two dozen public companies mentioned DEI as a risk factor in their SEC filings. This trend took off after the U.S. Supreme Court ended affirmative action in college admissions in June 2023.
Related: Boeing delivers hard-nosed message to employees amid strike
Consumers have also shown companies they can cause major damage to a business when they disagree with its views. This was most recently demonstrated in 2023 when Bud Light lost its spot as the No. 1 top-selling beer brand in America after it featured Dylan Mulvaney, a transgender social media influencer, in a social media campaign that promoted a $15,000 giveaway in April.
Bud Light faced a massive boycott that cost its parent company, Anheuser-Busch (BUDFF) , millions of dollars for several quarters after the incident took place. The company is still struggling to repair the damage.
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