Boeing (BA) has managed to find itself in more hot water.
A union representing Boeing’s workers has filed a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board alleging that the company retaliated against employees who were trying to comply with Federal Aviation Administration guidance while manufacturing its airplanes. The union also accused the company of trying to “hide information” that would reveal more details of what happened.
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace alleges in a press release that Boeing is not being honest about how it treats its workers amid the FAAs investigation into its safety and quality control practices, which launched after a string of incidents revealed faults in several of its aircrafts.
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“Boeing can tell Congress and the media all it wants about how ‘retaliation is strictly prohibited,’” said SPEEA Director of Strategic Development Rich Plunkett in the press release. “But our union is fighting retaliation cases on a regular basis, and in this specific case, Boeing is trying to hide information that would shed light on what happened.”
SPEEA claims that in 2022, two engineers, who were designated as representatives of the FAA, allegedly received negative performance evaluations after they suggested to managers that they should “reevaluate prior engineering work” on Boeing 777 and 787 aircraft in order to follow FAA guidance.
The managers allegedly “strongly objected” and claimed that doing so would “cost money and cause production delays.”
Management was allegedly “not pleased” with the two engineers and gave them “identical negative evaluations” in their performance reviews, which the press release states is “critical” since Boeing uses those evaluations to “determine raises, opportunities for promotions and potential risk for layoffs.”
“SPEEA staff met with Boeing Labor Relations representatives several times in an effort to correct what seemed to the union to be a clear case of retaliation,” reads the press release. “Even after the manager of the two engineers admitted that he had rated them both poorly at the request of the 777 and 787 managers who had been forced to resubmit their work, Boeing refused to change the engineers’ performance evaluations.”
Boeing is currently under investigations by the FBI and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) for its role in the Jan. 5 incident aboard Alaska Airlines flight 1282.
NTSB via Getty Images
One of the engineers eventually filed a formal complaint with Boeing regarding the incident, which Boeing was required to file with the FAA. Boeing officials allegedly later revealed to the union that the company did indeed file the report with the FAA, but closed the case since it “did not meet the legal threshold of interference, nor the legal definition of retaliation.”
The company allegedly refused to give the union access to the report it sent to the FAA as it sought an appeal of the engineers’ negative performance reviews. The union later filed an Unfair Labor Practice charge to the NLRB on April 18 as a response, hoping that the board will force Boeing to turn over the report.
The revelation of Boeing’s alleged retaliation against workers comes amid Boeing whistleblower Sam Salehpour’s recent revelation during an April 17 Congress hearing that unveiled the backlash he received for raising manufacturing concerns with management.
During his time at the company, Salehpour claimed that he was “ignored” and told to “shut up” for raising safety concerns with management over the company’s manufacturing process of its Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777 aircraft.
Salehpour even revealed that he received “physical threats” and a phone call from his boss through his personal phone where he was “berated” and “chewed out” for raising these issues.
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