Rodney Barnett
Appearances
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
That was really a struggle for him. He kept thinking that things would get better, I believe. And he stuck with that as long as he could, facing that retaliation and everything that was being thrown at him by his managers until he just had to leave. So it wasn't easy for him to do that.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
I said, well, what happened? He said, well, he's deceased. And I wasn't expecting that. It took a while to sink in. I mean, you know, this happens. He's not going to be part of us physically anymore. So I had to make the calls to my mom and my brothers.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
After seeing the kind of pressure that he was dealing with, and he dealt with that, I mean, it was seven years after he retired, he dealt with that. He was under all that pressure, and he held up as long as he could.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
We don't think they pulled the trigger. We think that if this would have been taken care of a long time ago, when it should have been, and if Boeing had come forward and adhered to their procedures and policies, made sure that those aircraft were put together the way they should have been, we wouldn't have this discussion right now.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
I don't remember us ever calling him John. He's always been Mitch to us. That's just ever since we were small.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
She had to raise us, the four boys, by herself pretty much single-handedly. And, you know, she taught us to always do what was right and stand up for those that couldn't stand up for themselves.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
So the police showed up. and brought him to my mom, and the policeman was laughing. He said, you have one honest kid. He said, because when I got these two, he said, I asked them, did they bust the windows? And the friend of Mitch was the son of a preacher. And the friend told him, no sir, they didn't do that.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
so he turned to mitch and he asked he said did you throw rocks and bust that door he said yes sir he said i threw that first rock and it bounced right off that sucker so i threw another one as hard as i could did he get it and did he end up getting in trouble oh we always got in trouble but you know it was it was for the good it taught us a lesson
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
He loved his job. He loved the company. He was proud to wear that shirt. And he told us that he'd go out and people would find out he worked for Boeing. And they were just congratulating him and thanking him for what he was doing out there.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
Once he got into quality control and started attending the classes, he put in hundreds of hours of class time progressing up a quality control ladder and preparing himself to move on to the next level.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
They offered him a chance to get in on the ground floor, setting up a new plant, getting their safety and quality procedures in place, you know, setting up the programs. At the time, he was considered one of the most knowledgeable quality control inspectors at Seattle. So he was looking, you know, he's looking forward to it.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
They were trying to get things done, and they wanted him to sign off on things that he hadn't inspected. And just one thing after another started to snowball, kind of like they started changing procedures or just flat-out dropping procedures and not having inspections.
The Journal.
The Life and Death of a Boeing Whistleblower
He was really aggravated. It upset him because he took the responsibility of his job seriously. It wasn't something that he just came in and reported to work and then left.