Boeing fired an employee Tuesday after claiming the worker was responsible for hanging a noose in a South Caroline manufacturing facility, TV station WCSC reported.
In late February, Boeing said it was investigating a nylon, one-foot noose that was found hanging in a Charleston, S.C., plant that manufactures its 787 Dreamliner aircraft. The noose was first reported by a CBS transportation reporter, who confirmed the investigation on Twitter.
#breaking @weareboeingsc confirms a noose was found at Charleston plant that builds the 787. “I am saddened and angered that a racially-charged symbol was discovered on site…there is absolutely no place for racism and these cowardly acts” VP Brad Zaback wrote in msg to staff.
— Kris Van Cleave (@krisvancleave) March 1, 2019
“We have completed a thorough review of the matter and identified the responsible person,” Brad Zaback, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s 787 program said in a letter to the plant’s employees Tuesday. “This individual’s actions are a violation of our company’s values and behaviors, and as a result this individual is no longer with the company.”
Nooses have appeared in several U.S. workplaces in recent years. In January, workers at General Motors sued the company to address nooses hung in a Toledo, Ohio, plant along with swastikas and racist slogans scrawled in the facility’s restrooms. Earlier this month, UPS workers at a Ohio distribution hub also sued their employer over racist behavior at the site, including the hanging of a noose and a Confederate flag.
The firing at Boeing comes as the aerospace giant weathers a crisis involving its Max 737 planes, two of which have crashed in the last six months, one in Indonesia and another in Egypt. Both planes appear to have been affected by a software program that pushed the plane’s nose downward during flights. Many airlines have grounded their 373 Max planes, with some cancelling orders for new Boeing airplanes.
