Boeing retaliated against workers who raised concerns about their planes

A union that represents Boeing employees says the company retaliated against two engineers who raised concerns about its 777 and 787 jets in 2022.

The planemaker gave "identical" negative evaluations to the workers who had been designated as representatives of the Federal Aviation Administration after they asked Boeing to re-evaluate engineering work on the widebody jets to account for a new FAA advisory, the SPEEA union said in a statement. The two engineers prevailed after almost six months of debate and Boeing re-did the analysis, the union said.

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A Boeing representative didn't immediately comment.

Boeing has come under increasing scrutiny from lawmakers and regulators following a near-catastrophic blowout of a fuselage panel on a 737 Max 9 during flight in early January. The FAA separately conducted an audit of Boeing's production lines and found "multiple instances" of manufacturing lapses.

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One of the two engineers left Boeing, while the other filed a formal retaliation complaint that Boeing was required to log with the FAA, the SPEEA statement said. The union — which represents engineers, scientists, pilots and technical workers — said it filed a National Labor Relations Board complaint on April 18 to get access to a report Boeing filed with the FAA.