The Strange Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
And while Barnett conducted numerous high-profile interviews over the years with the likes of The New York Times, the producers of the Netflix documentary Downfall, and the Today show, what was most unusual from his lawyers perspective was that he had the receipts. Unlike would-be whistleblower clients who find themselves perp walked out of the plant without access to their phones or email accounts, Turkewitz told the Prospect, John had meticulously documented everything, he had thousands of pages stored on his computer. Those documents were especially invaluable because of the meager force of the AIR 21 statute governing aviation whistleblowers, which forces industry employees who are fired for speaking out about unsafe practices to litigate their grievances in a secret court system operated by the Department of Labor that lacks subpoena power.
If nothing else, Turkewitz hopes to use Barnetts death to make a case for reform to the AIR 21 statute, the creation of an obscure 2000 law that places near-impossible demands on whistleblowersincluding an absurd 90-day statute of limitations on retaliatory conductand is still so woefully underfunded it can barely handle the cases it has, which is why Swampys case had dragged on more than seven years.
But the end was almost in sight. He was in very good spirits and really looking forward to putting this phase of his life behind him, Turkewitz said. We didnt see any indication he would take his own life. We need more information No one can believe it.
The Unmitigated Gall
(3,819 posts)Mme. Defarge
(8,034 posts)Thank you for posting it.
moniss
(4,263 posts)I posted yesterday. There is way more than enough here to ask a whole lot more questions.
https://democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=18780554
barbtries
(28,799 posts)that he told a friend that if i die, it's not a suicide. was it your link? regardless, i believe he was murdered. sigh.
moniss
(4,263 posts)the OP that my comment from yesterday responded to. I tend to be analytical about things and my post from yesterday sort of gets into a statistical basis for asking more questions.
keopeli
(3,523 posts)McDonnel Douglas merged with Boeing a year after it bought the Rockwell division that operated the Space Shuttle. From the moment it happened, we could all tell this was bad news. When the new Board of Directors was majority McDonnell Douglass and the new CEO was from M-D, we knew the fix was in. Shortly thereafter, Boeing moved its headquarters from its storied history in Seattle to the Windy City of Chicago. The M-D execs were from California and they did not like the climate and government in Washington State. Then, they opened non-union plants in southern states. One by one, Boeing pulled up shop in Washington and moved to more tax friendly and union free states. The giant Everett plant, where the 747 was built, was downgraded. The writing was on the wall from the beginning.
Boeing was a great company, as so many Washington State companies are known to be. Think of Costco, Nintendo, Microsoft, Starbucks, Amazon, UPS...this is not to say these are perfect companies. We know the anti-labor practices of Starbucks and the monopolistic tendencies of Microsoft, but overall, these are among the better US Companies.
Boeing's fall from grace all started with that fateful merger in 1997 and the culture of capitalists that took over from Macdonnal-Dougless. It's all been downhill since then. I see very little reason to hope for anything better from this once storied company.
plimsoll
(1,670 posts)Both appointed at more or less the insistence of John McDonald. Big on outsourcing, but neither one understood that Boeing sold safety. Airplanes are things. You don't fly on planes that make you wonder if you'll land safely. Guess John McDonald didn't learn that lesson with Douglas.
So since McNerney was the the CEO that pushed the 787Max so he could get his "bonus." Why aren't the board trying to claw that back?
keopeli
(3,523 posts)cayugafalls
(5,641 posts)Nothing to see here, these are not the Corporate Assassins you are looking for...move along.
So much bullshit corruption in this world...as soon as the story of his 'suicide' broke...ANYONE following the story KNEW it was MURDER.
Joinfortmill
(14,435 posts)I am so pissed.
ZERTErYNOthe
(199 posts)Thank you for posting, that was a really interesting article. It also reminded my about the Netflix documentary. I will watch that next.