Adopting zero tolerance against racist and hateful behavior, Boeing has fired 65 employees. The company also disciplined 53 others for unacceptable behavior. The action was taken under the ‘zero-tolerance’ policy. The policy was implemented by Chief Executive Officer Dave Calhoun in May 2020 following the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The policy also aims at raising the number of Black employees at Boeing by 20 percent. Currently, there is only 6.4 percent of Blacks staffers at Boeing. The multinational airplane manufacturing giant said that there is no place for hate within the company.
“There is no place for such behavior at our company. We will expect everyone to be the best in their interactions with one another,” Calhoun said. The company also said that they will continue to take steps to make it a better place for work for everyone. “We have resolved to do even better. The gap that is clearly visible indicates where we need to focus our efforts so that these disparities can be addressed. The reason we are sharing these figures is that transparency will help drive shared accountability. We will keep ourselves accountable by taking similar steps every year going forward,” the company said in a release.
The disclosure comes at a time when several big companies are under pressure to address concerns related to discrimination and racism in the United States. Particularly in the industries that have been dominated by white men for a long. The move is significant as the company has faced several lawsuits of late alleging racial discrimination. In one such lawsuit, it was alleged that a manager of the company regularly sent Black individuals to “unsanitary” areas of the plant. “The managed allowed white colleagues to work in more desirable projects.” The company has termed these allegations as baseless. The company has said that it has set the target of four years to improve overall diversity.
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