Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on on the Boeing Senate hearing and the new whistleblower claims

Boeing's CEO has never spoken to any of the whistleblowers accusing the company of safety issues. 

The aerospace manufacturer is being questioned in the US Senate over incidents and allegations the company has had this year. 

Ex-employees allege the company has been cutting corners, hiding evidence from regulators, and skipping safety inspections. 

Committee member Ron Johnson began the questioning of CEO Dave Calhoun by asking if he'd spoken to any of the whistleblowers. 

When Calhoun replied he had not, Johnson suggested it might be a good idea. 

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Mike Hosking that a short time ago Calhoun made an assertation that they’re committed to making sure every employee feels empowered to speak up if they have a problem. 

He said that there is a striking difference of opinion, as the Head of the Senate Panel says the recent whistleblower had pressure exerted on him to stay silent. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
International correspondence with ends and eye insurance.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
Peace of mind for New Zealand business.

Speaker 3 (00:05):
The Thailand sooner passed their marriage equality more are become
the third Asian territory to recognize same sex couples. Sort
of ironic, isn't it, given what we've done in this
country and how long ago we did it? Anyway, pass
the final reading. Nepal and Taiwan are the other ones.
Six forty five. Time to go to the States. Richardald,
Very good morning to you.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Good morning make Boeing.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
What have we heard so far? It was supposed to
start about forty five ago, wasn't it.

Speaker 1 (00:27):
Yeah, we'll just getting into this hearing, so has had
for timing. The boss of Boeing summoned to Capitol Hill
for questioning. That's CEO David calhouna is in the witness
chair at this moment as his critics on the Homeowned
Security Panel are slamming what they call a quote broken
safety culture at Boeing. Now another Boeing whistleblower has come
forward in tandem with this equality insurance fellow, Sam Mohawk.

(00:49):
This man is just the latest, as you know, in
a series of Boeing insidus who claim the aircraft maker
cut corners to raise their profits more and more and
retaliate it against employees who woke up about some of
the problems that were involved in doing that. All this,
of course, follows a series of disastrous incidents for Boeing,
most notably the Alaska Airlines blowout, where the Boeing jet

(01:10):
lost the door panel in midflight, luckily no one dying,
and that since then, we have heard from a number
of Boeing insiders who say the production processes at Boeing
have been seriously degraded in recent times. One Boeing quality
engineer alleged the company isolated and threatened him after he
raised concerns that the fuselage on the company's seven eighty
seven dream Liner were not properly fused together as that

(01:34):
aircraft was being finalized, and that this floor could lead
to the plane breaking apart in mid flight. The company
said they addressed that this latest whistleblower, Sam Mohawk, alleges
at Boeing properly tracked and stored faulty parts, and that
some of those faulty parts likely were installed on planes,
including the seven thirty seven Max. Speaking a short time ago,

(01:54):
the Boeing boss made this assertion about reviewing their system
since the Alaska Airlines debarcle.

Speaker 4 (02:00):
We've asked every one of our employees to consider themselves
an aviation safety advocate. We're committed to making sure every
employee feels empowered to speak up if they see a problem.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well, the head of the Senate panel, Richard Blumenthal, differs
and says of this latest whistleblower, now.

Speaker 2 (02:18):
His account of the retaliation against him is particularly chowing,
the pressure that was exerted on him to stay silent.
They have a program called speak Up. Well, he was
told to shut up.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
So some striking differences of opinion.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
Yes, indeed, we'll talk to an aviation expert after seven
o'clock this morning. So what's the deal is about half
a million of them? They've been in America for teen years.
You're married to an American, So that's the amnesty is
at the plan?

Speaker 1 (02:44):
That's basically it. Of course, immigration, border security, those concerns
are very contentious issues, as if you've noted. Leading into
the elections here in November, former Prisident Trump has been
raising the rhetorics saying many would be immigrants of fleeing
from prisons and mental institutions in summermerals and animals quote unquote,
who would poison the blood in the country, and that
he would summon the National Guard to begin mass deportation.

(03:07):
So President Biden I was responding with the most extensive
move in more than a decade to protect some immigrants.
He's put together this new executive order that would shield
from deportation those half a million or so illegal immigrants
who are married to American citizens. The hope of the
Biden team is that this will take a middle line
between progressives and those who favor a tougher approach, and

(03:27):
those who think that Biden was bending to hardliners when
he announced recently that there would be a cutoff and
border processing when the number of illegal daily border crossings
reached twenty five hundred, as it has now. Until this point,
undocumented spouses had to go back to their countries of
origin before they could apply for permanent residency here or citizenship.
That is oppressive, says Democrat Raja Krishna Morte.

Speaker 5 (03:50):
When these spouses have to leave the country, sometimes they're
gone for as many as three or four years before
they can come back to continue with the process. So
the families are separated.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
Under these new Biden rules, those families could remain intact
while they pursue legal status. To be eligible, as you say,
they must have lived here for ten years and to
have been married to a US citizen as of yesterday,
So no quickie weddings today. Republicans are slamming the Biden effort.
They also withdrew, of course, from the bipartisan border reform
plan recently under pressure from Trump, who wanted to keep

(04:22):
the border battle as an election issue Politically. The Biden
team hopes this will boost their November chances.

Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yeah, a good one, mate, catch up in a couple
of days, Richard Arlslot sign just to updoate you on
AI and how it's going to save us. All the
McDonald's in America this morning have announced that they're removing
AI powered ordering technology. They've been running a little experiment
in there some of the US restaurants, about one hundred
of their restaurants. Our trial system, developed in twenty nineteen
by IBM. A number of viral videos floating about the place,

(04:50):
misinterpreted orders, bacon topped ice cream, hundreds of dollars worth
of chicken nuggets flying left right, and Center After a
quote unquote thoughtful review, McDonald's has decided to end our
current global partnership with IBM on automated order taking, It
remained confident that tech would still be part of its
restaurant's future. On TikTok, young woman becomes increasingly exasperated as

(05:11):
she attempts to convince the AI that she wants a
caramel ice cream, only for it to add multiple stacks
of butter to her order. Another of video three hundred
and sixty thousand views, person claims that are ordered got
confused with one being made by somebody else, resulting in
nine orders of tea being added to a bill. Another
video couple of people laughing while hundreds of dollars worth
of chicken nuggets are added to their order. The New

(05:31):
York Post report or another person had bacon added to
their ice cream and eraror so that AI sooner we
get that the better. Nine minutes Away from seven.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
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