'Panic mode' Bosses pressing mechanics to keep quiet, says worker at Everett site

Boeing's largest factory is in "panic mode", workers and union officials say, with managers accused of hounding staff to keep quiet over quality concerns.

- Michael Sainato

The US plane maker has been grappling with a safety crisis sparked by a cabin panel blowout during a flight in January, and intense scrutiny of its production line as regulators launched a string of investigations.

Its site at Everett in Washington state said to be the world's biggest manufacturing building - is where planes such as the 767 and 777 are constructed, with the site also fixing flaws in the 787 Dreamliner.

One mechanic at the complex, who has worked for Boeing for more than three decades, has claimed it is "full of" faulty 787 jets.

Many of these jets are flown from Boeing's site in South Carolina, where the company shifted final assembly of the 787 in 2021 in what was characterised as cost-cutting.

"There is no way in God's green earth I would want to be a pilot in South Carolina flying those from South Carolina to here," the mechanic, who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation, told the Guardian. "Because when they get in here, we're stripping them apart."

Managers at Everett "will hound mechanics" to keep quiet about quality concerns and repairs, the mechanic alleged, emphasising speed and efficiency over safety. He added: "Boeing has to look in the mirror and say: 'We're wrong.""

Boeing did not comment on claims that staff had been pressured not to raise concerns about quality. Work at Everett on 787 jets is taking place as part of an established verification programme, it said.

The company met this week with US regulators to discuss how it plans to address quality-control issues. Executives have recently described how workers have been emboldened to speak up since January, with submissions to an internal portal for safety and quality concerns up by 500%.