Top airline manufacturer Boeing dissolved its global diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) division amid significant financial losses, union strikes and scrutiny over safety and production issues, Bloomberg reported Thursday.
The reorganization, which reassigned its DEI staff to Boeing’s employee experience division, reflects CEO Kelly Ortberg’s focus on consolidating operations as the company grapples with a number of problems, according to Bloomberg.
Sara Liang Bowen, who previously helmed Boeing’s DEI department, announced her departure on Thursday, Bloomberg reported. In a LinkedIn post, Bowen expressed pride in her team’s work, acknowledging both its challenges and accomplishments.
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“The team achieved so much — sometimes imperfectly, never easily — and dreamed of doing much more still,” Bowen wrote in a farewell post on LinkedIn.
Critics argue such policies encourage discrimination by favoring certain demographics, and this scrutiny is part of a larger trend, with activists targeting corporations and calling for a shift away from DEI priorities, the outlet stated.
Ortberg’s vision for Boeing includes a sweeping reduction of the executive layer and an overall 10% cut in workforce as he seeks to reorient the company’s mission. Boeing and its shareholders are facing a $1.05 billion loss, and workers and suppliers are set to lose $351 million from the International Association of Machinists (IAM) union strike that began Sept. 13.
Under previous CEO Dave Calhoun, Boeing pledged to increase black representation to 20% by 2025, with the company reporting a 7.5% increase in black employment by 2023, Bloomberg reported.
“Boeing remains committed to recruiting and retaining top talent and creating an inclusive work environment where every teammate around the world can perform at their best while supporting the company’s mission,” the plane maker said in a statement, Bloomberg reported.
The company faced significant scrutiny earlier this year for an incident involving an Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 flight where a door plug was torn off mid-air, prompting a federal investigation. A Senate report published in September found that Boeing prioritized rapid production over quality and failed to offer sufficient training, based on a 2024 special audit by the FAA and an investigation conducted by a U.S. Senate subcommittee.
A NASA report released in August found that Boeing employed workers lacking sufficient qualifications for constructing their space rockets, leading to quality control problems. NASA’s audit suggested a shortage of skilled aerospace professionals on the Space Launch System project contributed significantly to delays and increased costs.
Before these incidents, the FAA’s report in February revealed potential safety issues in the company’s operations after two tragic crashes in 2018 and 2019, which resulted in 346 deaths, leading the company to plead guilty to criminal fraud in July. Former Boeing senior manager and whistleblower Ed Pierson previously criticized executives for ignoring his warnings about quality control risks.
Boeing did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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