Washington: Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun underwent difficult questioning from the US Senate as part of a hearing related to the jet maker’s 787 Max aircraft, the Alaska Airlines door drop mishap as well as alleged whistleblower intimidation by the jetmaker. Calhoun, who took over as Boeing CEO in 2020, appeared before a US Senate House sub-committee chaired by Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. While the sub-committee members were direct in their questioning, Missouri Senator Josh Hawley was particularly pointed in his questions about Calhoun’s compensation and its links to the responsibilities of his office.
Here’s a brief account of how the exchange went:
How much is Calhoun paid?
Hawley asked Calhoun how much he was paid. When Calhoun tried to skirt the issue, Hawley came out with the number — $32.8 million which marked a 45 per cent rise year-over-year. During the Senate hearing, Hawley asked Calhoun what he was paid for, leading to a miffed response from the CEO that he gets paid to run the Boeing company.
What are metrics that determine Calhoun’s pay?
When asked whether transparency was one of the pay metrics, Calhoun said that the company’s board counts on him for transparency. Hawley unleashed a barrage of probes that were on against Boeing for:
Falsifying 787 inspection records
Alaska Airlines flight
Alleged criminal conspiracy to defraud the FAA
Hawley said that these probes started during Calhoun’s tenure. He went on to ask rhetorically whether safety was one of the pay metric for the Boeing CEO? “It sure is, Senator,” said Calhoun. To this, Hawley replied with an FAA report which discovered inappropriate safety measures used by a subcontractor for the aircraft door that fell out on the Alaska Airlines flight. Calhoun said Boeing’s relationship with the subcontractor was well documented and he was keen on acquiring that company so that “none of that ever happens.”
Hawley cited the FAA to state that Boeing failed to implement the safety recommendations from 2019 and 2020 to ask how Calhoun qualified for his pay package with this attitude towards safety. Calhoun pushed back on the FAA statement saying he was unaware of any recommendations that hadn’t been implemented.
Whistleblower intimidation
Fawley countered that whistleblowers came before the House committee to allege that safety inspections have been cut down and flagging quality concerns led to reassignment and threats. Fawley then asked Calhoun about the stock price changes for Boeing, to which the Boeing CEO said that he had not seen any stock price rise and there hardly had been any profits.
Fawley chided Calhoun for being focused on cutting corners, eliminating safety procedures, sticking it to employees and strip mining Boeing, one of the greatest American companies ever for profits and shareholder value which resulted in record pay increases.
Misplaced priorities
Fawley said Calhoun’s priorities seemed misplaced. The Boeing CEO received more flak from the Senator saying he did not recognise the company that he had described.
“You don’t recognise the Beoing that has aeroplanes falling out of the sky, 2 MAXs crashed, pieces of doors fall out of the sky, whistleblower employees, engineers who told the House committee that they are not listened to, retaliated against, threatened… That’s you company that you have created… under your leadership that’s what Boeing is.”
‘Travesty that you are still in-charge’
Fawley kept up his diatribe to ask Calhoun why he hadn’t resigned. He chided Calhoun for trying to deflect the questions asked by the committee. Calhoun said he was proud of the company’s safety record and every action the company has taken. Fawley pointed out to people sitting behind Calhoun showing pictures of people lost to Calhoun’s safety record, calling it a travesty that Calhoun was still in charge.
Boeing safety lapses: Dave Calhoun, CEO of jetmaker Boeing was visibly flummoxed by Missouri representative US Senator Josh Hawley who asked pointed questions the company’s poor safety record on Calhoun’s watch. Biz News Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
