专访波音“吹哨人”家人：他不会白白死去
维姬•斯托克斯用路易斯安那州特有的轻柔口音追忆了她的儿子——已故约翰•巴内特的过往。他的儿子作为吹哨人不懈地揭露他在波音工厂亲眼目睹的诸多公然违反质量控制规定的行为，但这最终使他付出了生命的代价。
斯托克斯今年已经84岁，身体状况很差。她说：“巴内特回路易斯安那州老家探亲时，我曾劝他放手，让他像其他人一样上班就行了。‘我不能那样做，’他说，‘我有兄弟、侄女和侄子，他们经常坐飞机，如果他们或者乘坐这些飞机的任何人发生任何意外，我都无法原谅自己。’他的一切努力就是确保一切按规章制度办事，但却事与愿违。他不能袖手旁观，听之任之。”
维姬•斯托克斯和她的大儿子罗德尼在南卡罗来纳州查尔斯顿罗伯特•特克维茨律师的办公室里接受了我的电话采访。此次与《财富》杂志的对话是这家人首次接受媒体深度采访。（于3月27日播出的CBS晚间新闻，他们首次接受电视采访。）
我们采访时，约翰•巴内特已去世整整14天。62岁的巴内特被发现死在查尔斯顿市中心阿什利河对岸一家假日酒店停车场的一辆橙色道奇公羊皮卡车内，这辆车是他自己的，当时他正坐在驾驶座上，手握一把银色手枪。四天后，查尔斯顿县验尸官判定其死因为“明显自残”，并透露副驾驶座位上放着一张“类似纸条的白纸”。(纸条上的内容尚未公开）。
现在，家喻户晓的“维姬女士”和巴内特的其余三兄弟都不想让巴内特揭露的问题随着他的离世而被掩盖起来。他们这么做是有理由的。2010年至2017年，巴内特在北查尔斯顿装配厂担任“质量经理”，负责监管波音787梦幻客机（787 Dreamliner）的生产，他发现生产过程并未遵循联邦航空管理局（Federal Aviation Administration）以及波音公司自身规定的流程和程序，但他的意见并未引起上级领导的重视。
巴内特称，波音恼羞成怒，要对他进行报复，这让他的母亲非常担心，事实证明，他的预言没有错，这着实令人震惊。因737 Max客机安装的新型飞行控制软件系统存在问题，自此，空难时有发生。2018年和2019年，印尼狮航和印尼航空分别有一架客机坠毁，共造成346人丧生。
随后，今年1月初，美国阿拉斯加航空公司一架飞机从俄勒冈州波特兰起飞后不久在空中发生事故。当飞机爬升到约16,000英尺高空时，飞机主舱门突然爆裂，发出了一声震耳欲聋的轰鸣声。这起事故再次表明，巴内特在北查尔斯顿指出的质量控制漏洞是多么根深蒂固。1月底，也就是巴内特去世前六周，在接受TMZ采访（他最后一次接受媒体采访）时，他总结道：“这不是737的问题，而是波音的问题。无论是飞机舱门，还是飞机的其他部件，都面临同样的问题，工作并未妥善完成，未对飞机进行检查，问题也未受到重视。”
这位路易斯安那州的孤胆斗士可以说是挑战这家神话般制造商的最有名、最有公信力的吹哨人。得知他去世的消息后，他的家人悲痛欲绝，但他们并未放弃，正在为他所发起的战斗谱写新篇章。巴内特的母亲和他的兄弟们正在继续推进巴内特对波音发起的长期诉讼。他们正设法取代巴内特成为该诉讼的原告，该诉讼指控，波音对巴内特进行职场骚扰，不让他调任他能完全胜任的波音其他职位，并在他计划退休前十年迫使他离职，从而剥夺了这位在波音工作长达32年之久的老员工的未来收入，因此，他们要求波音对巴内特作出的非法报复行为进行赔偿。
波音否认骚扰或报复巴内特，并于2021年发表了如下声明：“波音并没有通过任何手段恶意妨碍巴内特先生继续从事他所选择的任何职业。”
这起诉讼的意义并不在于波音可能支付的赔偿金额，而在于以冗长的篇幅（其中一些内容是首次公开）极其具体地揭露了北查尔斯顿工厂涉嫌违反安全规定的行为，并声称管理者们非但未能解决这些问题，反而惩罚了指出问题的安全鹰派人士。巴内特的控诉既暴露了波音的种种弊端，也指出了波音亟需进行的改革，以振作精神，终结现代企业史上最混乱的一次衰退。
在《财富》杂志采访中，维姬•斯托克斯和罗德尼•巴内特详细详述了他们深爱的儿子及兄弟的人生历程。约翰•巴内特从热爱波音的企业文化到担心波音错误转型会引发空难；他从一个乐天派变成了孤胆斗士，不顾妈妈的劝阻，面对高墙阻隔不停地冲锋陷阵。最重要的是，他的母亲和哥哥强调，虽然“我就是停不下来”的追求让巴内特陷入焦虑，似乎终使他精神崩溃，但他始终坚信，前进的脚步不能停下。现在，他的家人接过了接力棒。
风趣幽默、热情奔放的孩子
巴内特的母亲说，约翰出生在加利福尼亚州的邓斯缪尔，这里是靠近俄勒冈州边境的鳟鱼垂钓和白水漂流中心，坐落在白雪皑皑的沙斯塔山脚下，四周是森林覆盖的山脊。约翰的父亲是一名铁路工人。1964年，约翰两岁时，父母离婚，维姬回到了她的家乡，即位于路易斯安那州中心、拥有约45,000人口的亚历山大市，距巴吞鲁日西北部两小时车程，距什里夫波特东南部两小时车程，该市最初是在1803年路易斯安那购地时法国卖给美国的领土上建立起来的贸易中心。亚历山大市濒临红河，有州际高速公路和联合太平洋铁路，拥有强大的制造业基础，宝洁（Procter & Gamble）、巴斯夫（BASF）和联合罐车（Union Tank Car）等公司都是这里的支柱企业。居民们可以在闻名遐迩的马蒂•格拉斯狂欢节和一年一度的猫王节上尽情狂欢，还可以欣赏汽车越野赛和龙舟赛。
约翰•巴内特的中间名为米切尔，朋友和家人都叫他“米切”，他是四个男孩中最小的一个。维姬•斯托克斯是一位单亲妈妈，在当地一所寄宿培训学校担任注册护士助理。斯托克斯说：“我让我的孩子们从小就开始干活。我们一家人一起努力。”几个年龄较大的孩子在小猪商店（Piggly Wiggly）干过装袋工作，也干过加油等工作。比约翰大六岁的罗德尼回忆说：“我是长子，做家务、做晚饭以及让弟弟们守规矩，就是我的分内之事。但对我们兄弟几个而言，课后和周末干活以及妈妈言传身教让我们有了坚韧不拔的品格和毅力，并且教会我们，当我们犯错时，要勇于承认错误。”他说：“米切最小，干的活并不多。他风趣幽默、自由奔放，有点被妈妈和哥哥们宠坏了。但他身上也有这些优秀品质。”
巴内特曾就读于亚历山大的博尔顿高中，该校每年通常只有100多名毕业生。“他有一个最好的朋友叫巴斯特，他们关系非常好，”维姬回忆说，她于1977年再婚，当时巴内特还在读高中。“巴斯特的父亲是一名警察，他收养了米切，并教他守规矩、不惹是生非。”
毕业后，巴内特加入了空军，希望在军队担任维护微波塔的技术员。但当他在圣安东尼奥的拉克兰基地完成八个月的基础训练后，空军并没有给新申请者提供任何培训名额。巴内特的母亲说：“我丈夫在加利福尼亚州帕姆代尔工作，为罗克韦尔国际公司（Rockwell International）研制航天飞机。米切就和他一起参与了该项目。”罗克韦尔工厂位于帕姆代尔，是航天飞机所有部件的总装地。1985年，第四代航天飞机亚特兰蒂斯号完工后，一些罗克韦尔员工从帕姆代尔向北迁移了1,100英里，来到位于西雅图的波音公司工作。约翰•巴内特就是其中之一。
巴内特在艾弗雷特工作时非常敬佩波音
巴内特在西雅图附近波音知名的艾弗雷特工厂工作了25年，在此期间，该工厂装配了三种划时代的喷气式飞机：747、767和777。据罗德尼和他的母亲说，“米切”曾对波音的质量保障措施和出色的工程设计非常敬佩，正如他在2019年接受《企业犯罪报道者》（Corporate Crime Reporter）采访时所说的那样。巴内特说：“我在参与747、767和777制造时，我们对怎样才能制造一架安全适航的飞机完全心里有数。”
维姬•斯托克斯说：“在艾弗雷特工作期间，他热爱波音公司，热爱他的团队。他总是为同事们举办派对。在马蒂•格拉斯狂欢节举办期间，他会带着狂欢节珠子和蛋糕去上班。他为自己的路易斯安那血统感到自豪。”在亚历山大希克森兄弟殡仪馆（Hixson Bros. funeral home）网站上建立的巴内特纪念墙上，一位当年的同事回忆说，有一次她和巴内特离开工厂时，她说自己的车胎爆了，英勇的巴内特“并没有直接让给AAA打电话”，而是“脱下自己的衬衫”，“不到10分钟就换好了车胎”。
巴内特住在皮吉特湾的卡马诺岛，这里有自行车道和岩滩，距离艾弗雷特只有一个多小时的车程。他最大的爱好是在长青赛道上赛车。巴内特喜欢改装他的越野赛车，此时，他的身心就会完全放松。纪念墙上有一张照片，这位公路战士腋下夹着头盔，意气风发地站在一辆青绿色的赛车前。巴内特以河口之王——鳄鱼作为赛车的标志和吉祥物。维姬女士说：“我们经常上去看他赛车。他的车前面画着一条绿色的大鳄鱼，他还会给孩子们分发绿色的塑料小鳄鱼。他甚至还在车的右挡风玻璃后面装了一个真正的鳄鱼头，他家里到处摆放着鳄鱼头纪念品。他赢得了年度最佳新秀奖和各种奖杯。这些奖杯现在还装在箱子里，放在亚历山大的家里。”
巴内特甚至还特意设计了一个椭圆形徽标，上面有一条张开大嘴准备吞掉他的赛车的巨型鳄鱼，徽标上还有他自己起的赛车绰号“沼泽巨鳄”。事实上，大多数朋友，无论是他的律师还是赛车朋友，都称巴内特“沼泽”。
在艾弗雷特工作期间，巴内特结识了已经离婚并带有两个儿子的波音同事辛迪•斯瓦福德，随后，他们结婚了。孩子们读完高中后，他们离婚了，但他与辛迪和继子们的关系仍然很好。在艾弗雷特工作的最后几年，巴内特几乎所有闲暇时间都是和黛安•约翰逊在一起度过的，讽刺的是，黛安曾在波音公司担任与美国联邦航空管理局（FAA）的联络员，不过和巴内特分属不同部门。多年以后，他的生活重心转向了黛安，但他在帮助黛安对抗致命疾病的同时，还要应对作为吹哨人与波音斗争的紧张局面。
吹哨人承受的巨大压力
巴内特的母亲和哥哥说，2010年，巴内特怀着殷切的希望以幽默乐观的态度开始了他在北查尔斯顿的工作。就像他的鳄鱼徽标一样，他个性张扬、自由奔放。巴内特的脸上留着海象式胡须和浓密的山羊胡子，棕色的头发披散在肩上，他笑声朗朗、童心未泯，深受家人喜爱。纪念墙上有一张照片，巴内特在一个哥哥的游泳池里和两个侄女玩耍、嬉闹，两个侄女紧紧抓住他的胳膊。他的胸部有什么纹身？除了鳄鱼嘴，还能有什么。“他的侄女和侄子们叫他‘Funcle’，意思就是‘有趣的叔叔’，”他的母亲说。在中产阶级聚居的古斯克里克镇，他再次结识了很多朋友，这条街上都是上世纪80年代建造的老式单层房屋，一幢幢并排而建，看不到一个游泳池。
纪念墙上有一张巴内特在查尔斯顿工作时期的照片，他穿着合身的尼龙T恤，戴着飞行员墨镜，兴高采烈地驾驶着一艘快艇。罗德尼回忆说，米切在驾船时展现的更多是热情，而不是航海技术。罗德尼说：“我们驾驶快艇通过船闸，此时痛快之极，但之后我们就得划着快艇回来。”当他的弟弟在返回路易斯安那州之前卖掉那艘快艇时，罗德尼如释重负。
巴内特显然希望北查尔斯顿的波音工厂能像他在艾弗雷特所珍视和尊敬的波音工厂一样。当时，该工厂刚刚竣工，是组装787飞机的超级先进的新工厂。罗德尼曾在空军服役19年，是一名航空电子导航系统专家，退役后在当地志愿消防队担任副队长，他说，“巴内特刚得到这份工作时，他非常兴奋，问我是否有兴趣到北查尔斯顿工厂工作，并说这将是一份很棒的工作。我婉言谢绝了，但他很高兴能去那里，成为新工厂的一员。”但好景不长。维姬说，她和丈夫在古斯克里克也住了八个月，就是为了能离儿子近一点。她回忆说：“一两年后，他的担忧开始显现出来。他回家时忧心忡忡。他不敢相信这里的企业文化竟然和西雅图的差别如此之大。”罗德尼补充道，“他发现北查尔斯顿同事的工作和处事方式与西雅图同事完全不同。”
回到家乡，仍与波音抗争
2017年初，巴内特离开了波音，在这之前的几年里，他发现了许多问题，从氧气系统失灵导致飞机减压时落下的氧气面罩无法使用，到锋利的钛金属碎片与电线混在一起，不一而足。就在离职前，他曾向职业安全与健康管理局（OSHA）投诉，这也是他现在提起的劳动诉讼的依据，他声称他的上级领导们对他提出的许多问题置之不理，并因他不断提出亟待解决的合理安全问题而迫使他离职。
维姬女士说，巴内特搬回亚历山大是为了照顾我。她回忆说：“他本可以搬到他的三个哥哥附近，那里距亚历山大只有一、两小时的车程，但他担心我的健康，回到了我的身边。”但一年后，巴内特得知黛安•约翰逊被确诊脑癌，很快就要住进疗养院。巴内特就义无反顾地去照顾他的爱人；后来，黛安搬到了亚历山大，他们结婚了。黛安身体尚可时，二人一起摆弄巴内特的越野车，心情十分愉快。罗德尼说：“他舍弃了华盛顿的柏油马路，选择了路易斯安那州的泥土路。”纪念墙上有一张照片，夫妻二人用扁平钢板建造了一辆公路怪兽，形状狭长，就像一个面包。最后，他们还在右仪表台支架上安装了一个鳄鱼头。
“他不说话时，你会发现他焦虑不安。在诉波音案件中，他既要查阅资料，又要提供证词，他太累了，”维姬女士谈到巴内特时说。“他一脸憔悴，但他从不把这种压力加在别人身上。”她还说，在家庭聚会上，特别是在侄女和侄子面前，他只表现出他开朗的一面。罗德尼提及一件重要的事，巴内特的侄女卡特琳•吉莱斯皮也是一名越野赛车手，曾驾车撞上巴内特的赛车，把鳄鱼头都撞歪了。罗德尼说：“自那以后，米切就不再坐在侄女的车里一起比赛。”
对维姬女士来说，探望米切和黛安是一件愉快的事。“她最后一次中风时，他们相视而笑，好像有什么秘密一样，”他的妈妈说。“去他们家很开心。”她认为黛安的生命得以延长离不开她儿子的照顾。维姬女士说：“她刚被确诊时，医生说她还能活14个月，结果她活了将近五年。米切像照顾婴儿一样照顾她，每天喂她吃饭，陪她坐八个小时。”黛安于2022年感恩节前几天去世。
巴内特的家人成为新的原告
3月16日星期六，100多人参加了巴内特的葬礼，他的前妻辛迪和他的两个继子、他的律师特克维茨及其妻子也在其中。在接下来的几天里，律师们与维姬女士、罗德尼及其他家人一起讨论他们是否愿意代替巴内特继续诉讼，他们很快就同意了。维姬•斯托克斯和罗德尼•巴内特在接受我们采访时坚称，他们的决定与金钱无关。罗德尼说：“我们提起诉讼是为了证明我弟弟的指控从一开始就是正确的。证实这一点将使我们全家和他所担心的所有人的航空旅行更加安全，并改变波音公司的企业文化。”尽管巴内特的家人呼吁彻查巴内特的死亡真相，但他们表示，他们没有做任何事情来鼓动或散布谣言，说他死于谋杀。
这起诉讼案由来已久。这起案件是根据联邦“AIR-21”法提起的，该法禁止雇主对吹哨人进行报复。2020年底，职业安全与健康管理局做出了对波音有利的有效裁决，认为“没有合理的理由”认为这家航空巨头违反了该法。巴内特的律师随后递交了一份经过修改的诉状，要求美国劳工部（U.S. Department of Labor）行政法法官办公室举行听证会，当前诉讼要求波音对巴内特遭受的骚扰、工资损失和精神创伤进行赔偿。波音申请驳回此案。但在2022年年中，劳工部法官做出了对巴内特有利的裁决，其中裁定：“我同意原告的主张，并认定……诉状充分指控了一种报复行为模式，致使原告处于敌意工作环境......并被[无端]解雇。”
3月20日，特克维茨和他的合作律师布莱恩•诺尔斯七年来首次公开了这份诉状。这份诉状长达32页，列举了钛碎片、氧气面罩、安装缺陷部件等问题，以及其他一些涉嫌违反波音和联邦航空管理局规定流程和程序的行为。这可以说是波音吹哨人对波音生产纰漏所作的最详尽的目击记录。在巴内特的律师公布这份诉状后，波音发布了一份公告，重申了两周前关于巴内特死亡的声明，称“我们对巴内特先生的去世感到悲痛，并向他的家人和朋友表示慰问，”并补充道“波音调查并解决了巴内特先生在退休前提出的质量问题，以及诉状中提到的其他质量问题。”
在巴内特去世的前一天，他在查尔斯顿市中心波音出庭律师的豪华办公室里提供了大约四个小时的证词；当时，波音的外聘律师也在场。巴内特本想在当晚离开查尔斯顿，以便在周日开车返回亚历山大。但在周五晚些时候，他同意在周六完成作证。他说：“尽快了结此事吧。我已经等了七年了。”
巴内特早些时候曾告诉母亲，他要出去两天，周日回家；维姬女士回忆说，当晚他还约了一位好友共进晚餐。“他很担心自己的健康，他瘦了，他是我的宝贝，但他看上去不像是我的小儿子，他老了，”她告诉我。“但有一件事，他始终坚信不疑。他告诉我：‘妈妈，我从来只说真话。他们永远抓不到我撒谎的证据。’”她在接受CBC早间新闻（CBC Mornings）采访时补充道：“如果这起案件不拖这么久，我的儿子还在，他的哥哥们的弟弟还在。”维姬女士、罗德尼和他的家人正在推进吹哨史上其中一次最轰动的战斗，这表明他们对一个由单亲妈妈和“警察教父”培养出来的诚实男人充满信心，他的教父让他走上了最正直诚实的道路，他的家人坚信，他从未偏离这条道路。（财富中文网）
翻译：郝秀
审校：汪皓
前波音质量经理约翰•巴内特在南卡罗来纳州家中，照片摄于2019年。巴内特于2024年3月9日被发现死亡。SWIKAR PATEL—THE NEW YORK TIMES
维姬•斯托克斯用路易斯安那州特有的轻柔口音追忆了她的儿子——已故约翰•巴内特的过往。他的儿子作为吹哨人不懈地揭露他在波音工厂亲眼目睹的诸多公然违反质量控制规定的行为，但这最终使他付出了生命的代价。
斯托克斯今年已经84岁，身体状况很差。她说：“巴内特回路易斯安那州老家探亲时，我曾劝他放手，让他像其他人一样上班就行了。‘我不能那样做，’他说，‘我有兄弟、侄女和侄子，他们经常坐飞机，如果他们或者乘坐这些飞机的任何人发生任何意外，我都无法原谅自己。’他的一切努力就是确保一切按规章制度办事，但却事与愿违。他不能袖手旁观，听之任之。”
维姬•斯托克斯和她的大儿子罗德尼在南卡罗来纳州查尔斯顿罗伯特•特克维茨律师的办公室里接受了我的电话采访。此次与《财富》杂志的对话是这家人首次接受媒体深度采访。（于3月27日播出的CBS晚间新闻，他们首次接受电视采访。）
我们采访时，约翰•巴内特已去世整整14天。62岁的巴内特被发现死在查尔斯顿市中心阿什利河对岸一家假日酒店停车场的一辆橙色道奇公羊皮卡车内，这辆车是他自己的，当时他正坐在驾驶座上，手握一把银色手枪。四天后，查尔斯顿县验尸官判定其死因为“明显自残”，并透露副驾驶座位上放着一张“类似纸条的白纸”。(纸条上的内容尚未公开）。
现在，家喻户晓的“维姬女士”和巴内特的其余三兄弟都不想让巴内特揭露的问题随着他的离世而被掩盖起来。他们这么做是有理由的。2010年至2017年，巴内特在北查尔斯顿装配厂担任“质量经理”，负责监管波音787梦幻客机（787 Dreamliner）的生产，他发现生产过程并未遵循联邦航空管理局（Federal Aviation Administration）以及波音公司自身规定的流程和程序，但他的意见并未引起上级领导的重视。
巴内特称，波音恼羞成怒，要对他进行报复，这让他的母亲非常担心，事实证明，他的预言没有错，这着实令人震惊。因737 Max客机安装的新型飞行控制软件系统存在问题，自此，空难时有发生。2018年和2019年，印尼狮航和印尼航空分别有一架客机坠毁，共造成346人丧生。
随后，今年1月初，美国阿拉斯加航空公司一架飞机从俄勒冈州波特兰起飞后不久在空中发生事故。当飞机爬升到约16,000英尺高空时，飞机主舱门突然爆裂，发出了一声震耳欲聋的轰鸣声。这起事故再次表明，巴内特在北查尔斯顿指出的质量控制漏洞是多么根深蒂固。1月底，也就是巴内特去世前六周，在接受TMZ采访（他最后一次接受媒体采访）时，他总结道：“这不是737的问题，而是波音的问题。无论是飞机舱门，还是飞机的其他部件，都面临同样的问题，工作并未妥善完成，未对飞机进行检查，问题也未受到重视。”
这位路易斯安那州的孤胆斗士可以说是挑战这家神话般制造商的最有名、最有公信力的吹哨人。得知他去世的消息后，他的家人悲痛欲绝，但他们并未放弃，正在为他所发起的战斗谱写新篇章。巴内特的母亲和他的兄弟们正在继续推进巴内特对波音发起的长期诉讼。他们正设法取代巴内特成为该诉讼的原告，该诉讼指控，波音对巴内特进行职场骚扰，不让他调任他能完全胜任的波音其他职位，并在他计划退休前十年迫使他离职，从而剥夺了这位在波音工作长达32年之久的老员工的未来收入，因此，他们要求波音对巴内特作出的非法报复行为进行赔偿。
波音否认骚扰或报复巴内特，并于2021年发表了如下声明：“波音并没有通过任何手段恶意妨碍巴内特先生继续从事他所选择的任何职业。”
这起诉讼的意义并不在于波音可能支付的赔偿金额，而在于以冗长的篇幅（其中一些内容是首次公开）极其具体地揭露了北查尔斯顿工厂涉嫌违反安全规定的行为，并声称管理者们非但未能解决这些问题，反而惩罚了指出问题的安全鹰派人士。巴内特的控诉既暴露了波音的种种弊端，也指出了波音亟需进行的改革，以振作精神，终结现代企业史上最混乱的一次衰退。
在《财富》杂志采访中，维姬•斯托克斯和罗德尼•巴内特详细详述了他们深爱的儿子及兄弟的人生历程。约翰•巴内特从热爱波音的企业文化到担心波音错误转型会引发空难；他从一个乐天派变成了孤胆斗士，不顾妈妈的劝阻，面对高墙阻隔不停地冲锋陷阵。最重要的是，他的母亲和哥哥强调，虽然“我就是停不下来”的追求让巴内特陷入焦虑，似乎终使他精神崩溃，但他始终坚信，前进的脚步不能停下。现在，他的家人接过了接力棒。
风趣幽默、热情奔放的孩子
巴内特的母亲说，约翰出生在加利福尼亚州的邓斯缪尔，这里是靠近俄勒冈州边境的鳟鱼垂钓和白水漂流中心，坐落在白雪皑皑的沙斯塔山脚下，四周是森林覆盖的山脊。约翰的父亲是一名铁路工人。1964年，约翰两岁时，父母离婚，维姬回到了她的家乡，即位于路易斯安那州中心、拥有约45,000人口的亚历山大市，距巴吞鲁日西北部两小时车程，距什里夫波特东南部两小时车程，该市最初是在1803年路易斯安那购地时法国卖给美国的领土上建立起来的贸易中心。亚历山大市濒临红河，有州际高速公路和联合太平洋铁路，拥有强大的制造业基础，宝洁（Procter & Gamble）、巴斯夫（BASF）和联合罐车（Union Tank Car）等公司都是这里的支柱企业。居民们可以在闻名遐迩的马蒂•格拉斯狂欢节和一年一度的猫王节上尽情狂欢，还可以欣赏汽车越野赛和龙舟赛。
约翰•巴内特的中间名为米切尔，朋友和家人都叫他“米切”，他是四个男孩中最小的一个。维姬•斯托克斯是一位单亲妈妈，在当地一所寄宿培训学校担任注册护士助理。斯托克斯说：“我让我的孩子们从小就开始干活。我们一家人一起努力。”几个年龄较大的孩子在小猪商店（Piggly Wiggly）干过装袋工作，也干过加油等工作。比约翰大六岁的罗德尼回忆说：“我是长子，做家务、做晚饭以及让弟弟们守规矩，就是我的分内之事。但对我们兄弟几个而言，课后和周末干活以及妈妈言传身教让我们有了坚韧不拔的品格和毅力，并且教会我们，当我们犯错时，要勇于承认错误。”他说：“米切最小，干的活并不多。他风趣幽默、自由奔放，有点被妈妈和哥哥们宠坏了。但他身上也有这些优秀品质。”
巴内特曾就读于亚历山大的博尔顿高中，该校每年通常只有100多名毕业生。“他有一个最好的朋友叫巴斯特，他们关系非常好，”维姬回忆说，她于1977年再婚，当时巴内特还在读高中。“巴斯特的父亲是一名警察，他收养了米切，并教他守规矩、不惹是生非。”
毕业后，巴内特加入了空军，希望在军队担任维护微波塔的技术员。但当他在圣安东尼奥的拉克兰基地完成八个月的基础训练后，空军并没有给新申请者提供任何培训名额。巴内特的母亲说：“我丈夫在加利福尼亚州帕姆代尔工作，为罗克韦尔国际公司（Rockwell International）研制航天飞机。米切就和他一起参与了该项目。”罗克韦尔工厂位于帕姆代尔，是航天飞机所有部件的总装地。1985年，第四代航天飞机亚特兰蒂斯号完工后，一些罗克韦尔员工从帕姆代尔向北迁移了1,100英里，来到位于西雅图的波音公司工作。约翰•巴内特就是其中之一。
巴内特在艾弗雷特工作时非常敬佩波音
巴内特在西雅图附近波音知名的艾弗雷特工厂工作了25年，在此期间，该工厂装配了三种划时代的喷气式飞机：747、767和777。据罗德尼和他的母亲说，“米切”曾对波音的质量保障措施和出色的工程设计非常敬佩，正如他在2019年接受《企业犯罪报道者》（Corporate Crime Reporter）采访时所说的那样。巴内特说：“我在参与747、767和777制造时，我们对怎样才能制造一架安全适航的飞机完全心里有数。”
维姬•斯托克斯说：“在艾弗雷特工作期间，他热爱波音公司，热爱他的团队。他总是为同事们举办派对。在马蒂•格拉斯狂欢节举办期间，他会带着狂欢节珠子和蛋糕去上班。他为自己的路易斯安那血统感到自豪。”在亚历山大希克森兄弟殡仪馆（Hixson Bros. funeral home）网站上建立的巴内特纪念墙上，一位当年的同事回忆说，有一次她和巴内特离开工厂时，她说自己的车胎爆了，英勇的巴内特“并没有直接让给AAA打电话”，而是“脱下自己的衬衫”，“不到10分钟就换好了车胎”。
巴内特住在皮吉特湾的卡马诺岛，这里有自行车道和岩滩，距离艾弗雷特只有一个多小时的车程。他最大的爱好是在长青赛道上赛车。巴内特喜欢改装他的越野赛车，此时，他的身心就会完全放松。纪念墙上有一张照片，这位公路战士腋下夹着头盔，意气风发地站在一辆青绿色的赛车前。巴内特以河口之王——鳄鱼作为赛车的标志和吉祥物。维姬女士说：“我们经常上去看他赛车。他的车前面画着一条绿色的大鳄鱼，他还会给孩子们分发绿色的塑料小鳄鱼。他甚至还在车的右挡风玻璃后面装了一个真正的鳄鱼头，他家里到处摆放着鳄鱼头纪念品。他赢得了年度最佳新秀奖和各种奖杯。这些奖杯现在还装在箱子里，放在亚历山大的家里。”
巴内特甚至还特意设计了一个椭圆形徽标，上面有一条张开大嘴准备吞掉他的赛车的巨型鳄鱼，徽标上还有他自己起的赛车绰号“沼泽巨鳄”。事实上，大多数朋友，无论是他的律师还是赛车朋友，都称巴内特“沼泽”。
在艾弗雷特工作期间，巴内特结识了已经离婚并带有两个儿子的波音同事辛迪•斯瓦福德，随后，他们结婚了。孩子们读完高中后，他们离婚了，但他与辛迪和继子们的关系仍然很好。在艾弗雷特工作的最后几年，巴内特几乎所有闲暇时间都是和黛安•约翰逊在一起度过的，讽刺的是，黛安曾在波音公司担任与美国联邦航空管理局（FAA）的联络员，不过和巴内特分属不同部门。多年以后，他的生活重心转向了黛安，但他在帮助黛安对抗致命疾病的同时，还要应对作为吹哨人与波音斗争的紧张局面。
吹哨人承受的巨大压力
巴内特的母亲和哥哥说，2010年，巴内特怀着殷切的希望以幽默乐观的态度开始了他在北查尔斯顿的工作。就像他的鳄鱼徽标一样，他个性张扬、自由奔放。巴内特的脸上留着海象式胡须和浓密的山羊胡子，棕色的头发披散在肩上，他笑声朗朗、童心未泯，深受家人喜爱。纪念墙上有一张照片，巴内特在一个哥哥的游泳池里和两个侄女玩耍、嬉闹，两个侄女紧紧抓住他的胳膊。他的胸部有什么纹身？除了鳄鱼嘴，还能有什么。“他的侄女和侄子们叫他‘Funcle’，意思就是‘有趣的叔叔’，”他的母亲说。在中产阶级聚居的古斯克里克镇，他再次结识了很多朋友，这条街上都是上世纪80年代建造的老式单层房屋，一幢幢并排而建，看不到一个游泳池。
纪念墙上有一张巴内特在查尔斯顿工作时期的照片，他穿着合身的尼龙T恤，戴着飞行员墨镜，兴高采烈地驾驶着一艘快艇。罗德尼回忆说，米切在驾船时展现的更多是热情，而不是航海技术。罗德尼说：“我们驾驶快艇通过船闸，此时痛快之极，但之后我们就得划着快艇回来。”当他的弟弟在返回路易斯安那州之前卖掉那艘快艇时，罗德尼如释重负。
巴内特显然希望北查尔斯顿的波音工厂能像他在艾弗雷特所珍视和尊敬的波音工厂一样。当时，该工厂刚刚竣工，是组装787飞机的超级先进的新工厂。罗德尼曾在空军服役19年，是一名航空电子导航系统专家，退役后在当地志愿消防队担任副队长，他说，“巴内特刚得到这份工作时，他非常兴奋，问我是否有兴趣到北查尔斯顿工厂工作，并说这将是一份很棒的工作。我婉言谢绝了，但他很高兴能去那里，成为新工厂的一员。”但好景不长。维姬说，她和丈夫在古斯克里克也住了八个月，就是为了能离儿子近一点。她回忆说：“一两年后，他的担忧开始显现出来。他回家时忧心忡忡。他不敢相信这里的企业文化竟然和西雅图的差别如此之大。”罗德尼补充道，“他发现北查尔斯顿同事的工作和处事方式与西雅图同事完全不同。”
回到家乡，仍与波音抗争
2017年初，巴内特离开了波音，在这之前的几年里，他发现了许多问题，从氧气系统失灵导致飞机减压时落下的氧气面罩无法使用，到锋利的钛金属碎片与电线混在一起，不一而足。就在离职前，他曾向职业安全与健康管理局（OSHA）投诉，这也是他现在提起的劳动诉讼的依据，他声称他的上级领导们对他提出的许多问题置之不理，并因他不断提出亟待解决的合理安全问题而迫使他离职。
维姬女士说，巴内特搬回亚历山大是为了照顾我。她回忆说：“他本可以搬到他的三个哥哥附近，那里距亚历山大只有一、两小时的车程，但他担心我的健康，回到了我的身边。”但一年后，巴内特得知黛安•约翰逊被确诊脑癌，很快就要住进疗养院。巴内特就义无反顾地去照顾他的爱人；后来，黛安搬到了亚历山大，他们结婚了。黛安身体尚可时，二人一起摆弄巴内特的越野车，心情十分愉快。罗德尼说：“他舍弃了华盛顿的柏油马路，选择了路易斯安那州的泥土路。”纪念墙上有一张照片，夫妻二人用扁平钢板建造了一辆公路怪兽，形状狭长，就像一个面包。最后，他们还在右仪表台支架上安装了一个鳄鱼头。
“他不说话时，你会发现他焦虑不安。在诉波音案件中，他既要查阅资料，又要提供证词，他太累了，”维姬女士谈到巴内特时说。“他一脸憔悴，但他从不把这种压力加在别人身上。”她还说，在家庭聚会上，特别是在侄女和侄子面前，他只表现出他开朗的一面。罗德尼提及一件重要的事，巴内特的侄女卡特琳•吉莱斯皮也是一名越野赛车手，曾驾车撞上巴内特的赛车，把鳄鱼头都撞歪了。罗德尼说：“自那以后，米切就不再坐在侄女的车里一起比赛。”
对维姬女士来说，探望米切和黛安是一件愉快的事。“她最后一次中风时，他们相视而笑，好像有什么秘密一样，”他的妈妈说。“去他们家很开心。”她认为黛安的生命得以延长离不开她儿子的照顾。维姬女士说：“她刚被确诊时，医生说她还能活14个月，结果她活了将近五年。米切像照顾婴儿一样照顾她，每天喂她吃饭，陪她坐八个小时。”黛安于2022年感恩节前几天去世。
巴内特的家人成为新的原告
3月16日星期六，100多人参加了巴内特的葬礼，他的前妻辛迪和他的两个继子、他的律师特克维茨及其妻子也在其中。在接下来的几天里，律师们与维姬女士、罗德尼及其他家人一起讨论他们是否愿意代替巴内特继续诉讼，他们很快就同意了。维姬•斯托克斯和罗德尼•巴内特在接受我们采访时坚称，他们的决定与金钱无关。罗德尼说：“我们提起诉讼是为了证明我弟弟的指控从一开始就是正确的。证实这一点将使我们全家和他所担心的所有人的航空旅行更加安全，并改变波音公司的企业文化。”尽管巴内特的家人呼吁彻查巴内特的死亡真相，但他们表示，他们没有做任何事情来鼓动或散布谣言，说他死于谋杀。
这起诉讼案由来已久。这起案件是根据联邦“AIR-21”法提起的，该法禁止雇主对吹哨人进行报复。2020年底，职业安全与健康管理局做出了对波音有利的有效裁决，认为“没有合理的理由”认为这家航空巨头违反了该法。巴内特的律师随后递交了一份经过修改的诉状，要求美国劳工部（U.S. Department of Labor）行政法法官办公室举行听证会，当前诉讼要求波音对巴内特遭受的骚扰、工资损失和精神创伤进行赔偿。波音申请驳回此案。但在2022年年中，劳工部法官做出了对巴内特有利的裁决，其中裁定：“我同意原告的主张，并认定……诉状充分指控了一种报复行为模式，致使原告处于敌意工作环境......并被[无端]解雇。”
3月20日，特克维茨和他的合作律师布莱恩•诺尔斯七年来首次公开了这份诉状。这份诉状长达32页，列举了钛碎片、氧气面罩、安装缺陷部件等问题，以及其他一些涉嫌违反波音和联邦航空管理局规定流程和程序的行为。这可以说是波音吹哨人对波音生产纰漏所作的最详尽的目击记录。在巴内特的律师公布这份诉状后，波音发布了一份公告，重申了两周前关于巴内特死亡的声明，称“我们对巴内特先生的去世感到悲痛，并向他的家人和朋友表示慰问，”并补充道“波音调查并解决了巴内特先生在退休前提出的质量问题，以及诉状中提到的其他质量问题。”
在巴内特去世的前一天，他在查尔斯顿市中心波音出庭律师的豪华办公室里提供了大约四个小时的证词；当时，波音的外聘律师也在场。巴内特本想在当晚离开查尔斯顿，以便在周日开车返回亚历山大。但在周五晚些时候，他同意在周六完成作证。他说：“尽快了结此事吧。我已经等了七年了。”
巴内特早些时候曾告诉母亲，他要出去两天，周日回家；维姬女士回忆说，当晚他还约了一位好友共进晚餐。“他很担心自己的健康，他瘦了，他是我的宝贝，但他看上去不像是我的小儿子，他老了，”她告诉我。“但有一件事，他始终坚信不疑。他告诉我：‘妈妈，我从来只说真话。他们永远抓不到我撒谎的证据。’”她在接受CBC早间新闻（CBC Mornings）采访时补充道：“如果这起案件不拖这么久，我的儿子还在，他的哥哥们的弟弟还在。”维姬女士、罗德尼和他的家人正在推进吹哨史上其中一次最轰动的战斗，这表明他们对一个由单亲妈妈和“警察教父”培养出来的诚实男人充满信心，他的教父让他走上了最正直诚实的道路，他的家人坚信，他从未偏离这条道路。（财富中文网）
翻译：郝秀
审校：汪皓
In a soft Louisiana drawl, Vicky Stokes is talking about her son, the late John Barnett, recalling the toll that his relentless mission as a whistleblower—exposing what he branded as blatant quality-control breaches that he’d witnessed on the factory floor at Boeing—took on his life.
“He’d come home to Louisiana on a visit and I’d try to talk him into just letting go, to just go to work like everybody else,” relates Stokes, who’s 84 and in fragile health. “’I can’t do that,’ he’d say, ‘I have brothers and nieces and nephews who fly all the time, and I just couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to them or any member of the public flying on these planes.’ His whole fight was making sure things got done the way the procedures were set up, and that wasn’t happening. He just couldn’t stand by and let things go.”
Vicky Stokes is speaking to me by phone from the Charleston, S.C., office of lawyer Rob Turkewitz, alongside her eldest son, Rodney. Their conversation with Fortune marks the first time the family has spoken out in an in-depth interview to the press. (The family had their first TV interview on the CBS Evening News that aired on March 27.)
We’re talking exactly 14 days after Barnett, 62, was found dead in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn just across the Ashley River from downtown Charleston, behind the wheel of his Clemson orange Dodge Ram truck, his hand holding a silver pistol. Four days later, the Charleston County Coroner ruled the cause of death an “apparent self-inflicted wound” and disclosed that a “white piece of paper resembling a note” lay in plain view on the passenger seat. (Its contents haven’t been publicly disclosed.)
Now, the lady known to all and sundry as “Miss Vicky” and Barnett’s three surviving brothers want to make sure that the message doesn’t die with the messenger. And for good reason. As a “quality manager” from 2010 to 2017 at the North Charleston plant that assembles the 787 Dreamliner, Barnett had identified what he viewed as a failure to follow processes and processes required by Federal Aviation Administration and Boeing’s own rules, only to see his complaints ignored or dismissed by his managers.
The warnings that Barnett claimed riled Boeing to retaliate against him, and that so worried his mom, have proven shockingly prescient. The drumbeat of airborne cataclysms started with the failure of a new flight control software system on 737 Max airliners that caused the Lion Air and Indonesian Airlines crashes, in 2018 and 2019 respectively, tragedies that together claimed 346 lives.
Then this year, in early January, the blowout of a main cabin door plug on an Alaska Airlines flight, 16,000 feet over Portland, Ore., shortly after takeoff, sounded a boom heard round the world. The mishap once again demonstrated just how deep-seated the types of quality-control gaps that Barnett flagged at North Charleston really were. During his final media interview, with TMZ in late January, six weeks before his death, Barnett concluded, “This is not a 737 problem, this is a Boeing problem. What we’ve seen with the door plug is what I’ve seen with the rest of the plane in terms of jobs not being completed properly, inspection steps removed, and issues being ignored.”
Now Barnett’s grieving family is writing the next chapter in the battle waged by the Louisiana maverick who’s arguably the most famous and credible whistleblower to challenge this fabled manufacturer. His mother and brothers are pressing forward on Barnett’s long-standing lawsuit versus Boeing. They are working on replacing Barnett as plaintiffs in the action, which claims damages for illegally retaliating against Barnett by subjecting Barnett to harassment on the job, blocking him from transferring to other positions at Boeing for which he was well qualified, and depriving the 32-year Boeing veteran of future income by forcing his departure a decade before he planned to retire.
Boeing has denied that it harassed or retaliated against Barnett, and in 2021, issued the following statement: “Boeing has in no way negatively impacted Mr. Barnett’s ability to continue whatever chosen profession he chooses.”
The lawsuit’s significance isn’t measured by the amount of money Boeing might pay. Its power rests in the lengthy, extremely specific account, some of which is being made public for the first time, of alleged safety violations at the North Charleston factory, and managers’ failures to address them and instead punish the safety hawks who pointed to the problems. The Barnett complaint may serve as a primer of all the things Boeing was doing wrong and the reforms it sorely needs to get its wings level and end one of the most chaotic descents in modern corporate history.
In the Fortune interview, Vicky Stokes and Rodney Barnett chronicled in telling detail the life journey of their beloved son and brother, as John Barnett went from loving the culture at Boeing to fearing that its wrong turn would trigger midair catastrophes; and from a happy-go-lucky soul to a lone crusader who, despite his mom’s advice, couldn’t stop battering against a seeming high wall of resistance. Most of all, his mom and brother stress that though the “I just can’t stop” quest trapped Barnett in anxiety and, it appears, finally broke his spirit, he never harbored the slightest doubt that he should stop moving forward. And now his family is taking the baton.
A funny, high-spirited kid
Barnett’s mother relates that John was born in Dunsmuir, Calif., a trout fishing and white-water-rafting hub near the Oregon border, nestled among forested mountain ridges at the foot of the snowcapped Mt. Shasta volcano. John’s father was a rail worker. In 1964, when John was 2 years old, his mom and dad separated, and Vicky rejoined her family in her hometown of Alexandria, La., a city of around 45,000 in the center of the Pelican State—a two-hour drive northwest of Baton Rouge and a two-hour drive southeast of Shreveport, originally a trading center built on territory sold from France to America in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Flanking the Red River and served by an interstate highway and the Union Pacific Railroad, Alexandria boasts a strong manufacturing base powered by such employers as Procter & Gamble, BASF, and Union Tank Car. Residents unwind at its famed, raucous take on Mardi Gras and annual Elvis festival, and relish dirt-track and dragon boat racing.
John Barnett—called “Mitch” by friends and family after his middle name, Mitchell—was the youngest of four boys. Vicky Stokes nurtured the family mainly as a single mom, working as a certified nurse assistant at a local residential training school. “I raised all my boys to work as kids,” says Stokes. “It was a family effort.” Her older sons shouldered such tasks as bagging groceries at a Piggly Wiggly and pumping gas. “As the eldest,” recalls Rodney, who’s six years John’s senior, “I got the chores done and cooked dinner and kept the other boys in line, which was an ongoing project. But for all of us, working after-school and weekend jobs, and our mom’s example, taught us character and perseverance, and to be honest and own up when we made a mistake.” He notes that, “as the youngest, Mitch didn’t work much. He was funny, free-spirited, and a bit spoiled by mom and his older brothers. But he learned those good qualities too.”
Barnett attended Bolton High School in Alexandria, where just over 100 students typically graduate each year. “He had a best friend named Buster; they were so close,” recalls Vicky, who remarried in 1977 when Barnett was in high school. “Buster’s father was a policeman who kind of adopted Mitch and kept him out of trouble.”
Upon graduation, Barnett joined the Air Force, hoping to work in the military as a technician maintaining microwave towers. But after the enlistee finished eight months of basic training at the Lackland base in San Antonio, the Air Force didn’t have any training slots for new applicants. “My husband had a job in Palmdale, Calif., working on the Space Shuttle for Rockwell International,” says Barnett’s mom. “Mitch joined him at Palmdale on the project.” The Rockwell plant in Palmdale was the facility where all the parts for the shuttle flowed for final assembly. After work on the Atlantis, the fourth edition, was completed in 1985, a number of the Rockwell employees from Palmdale moved 1,100 miles north to the Seattle area for jobs at Boeing. Among that group was John Barnett.
Barnett’s great respect for Boeing while at Everett
Barnett spent 25 years at Boeing’s famed Everett complex near Seattle, a period when the facility assembled three groundbreaking jet models: the 747, 767, and 777. According to Rodney and his mother, “Mitch” had great respect for Boeing’s quality safeguards and brilliant engineering, as he expressed in a 2019 interview with Corporate Crime Reporter. “When I worked on the 747, 767, and 777, the people fully understood what it took to build a safe and airworthy aircraft,” Barnett observed.
“While in Everett, he loved Boeing and loved his crew,” says Vicky Stokes. “He was always giving parties for his coworkers. He’d take Mardi Gras beads and cake to work during Mardi Gras. He was proud of his Louisiana heritage.” On the Tribute Wall honoring Barnett, posted on the funeral home website at the Hixson Bros. funeral home in Alexandria, a coworker from that era recounted that once when she and Barnett were leaving the plant, she mentioned she’d had a flat tire, and “instead of just saying to call AAA,” the gallant Barnett “took off his dress shirt” and “fixed it in less than 10 minutes.”
Barnett lived on Camano Island in the Puget Sound, a haven of bike trails and rocky beaches more than a one-hour commute from Everett. His big hobby: stock car racing at the Evergreen Speedway. Barnett relaxed by souping up his “bump to pass” race cars. A photo on the Tribute Wall shows the road warrior posing proudly before a lime green model, helmet tucked under his arm. For a racing trademark-slash-mascot, Barnett adopted the king of the bayou, the alligator. “We went up a lot to watch him race,” says Miss Vicky. “His car had a big green alligator painted on the front of it, and he’d hand out little green plastic alligators to the kids. He even had a real alligator head wired behind the car’s right windshield, and he had alligator heads all over his house as souvenirs. He won rookie of the year and all kinds of trophies. They’re still boxed up in Alexandria.”
Barnett even commissioned an oval logo showing a giant alligator’s open jaws poised to devour his hot rod, adorned by his self-chosen racing moniker, Swamp Dawg. Indeed, most friends, from his lawyers to his buddies at that track, knew Barnett as “Swampy.”
While at Everett, Barnett married his fellow Boeing employee Cindy Swafford, who had two sons from a previous marriage. They divorced after the boys finished high school, but he remained close to both Cindy and his stepsons. In his later years at Everett, Barnett spent nearly all of his time off the job with Diane Johnson, who worked at Boeing, ironically enough, as a liaison with the FAA, though in a different department from Barnett. Years later, his life would revolve around Diane as he dealt with both her fatal illness and the tensions of battling Boeing as a whistleblower.
The whistleblower’s wages of stress
Barnett began his North Charleston stint in 2010 with high hopes and typical good humor, say his mom and brother. Swampy cut the same jumbo-jet wide, flamboyant swath that was as much his brand as the alligator icon. His face framed by an adjoining walrus mustache and bushy goatee, brown hair falling to his shoulders, Barnett won his family’s adoration for his boisterous, infectious laugh, and kid-like sense of fun. A photo on the Tribute Wall shows Barnett frolicking in a brother’s pool, a brace of nieces clutching each arm. Decorating his upper chest? What else but an alligator jaws tattoo. “His nieces and nephews called him ‘Funcle,’ for “fun uncle,’” says his mother. He once again made loads of friends in the middle class town of Goose Creek, on a street of 1980s vintage, cheek-by-jowl single-story houses, not a swimming pool in sight.
A shot on the Tribute Wall from the Charleston years captures Barnett joyfully piloting a speedboat in a form-fitting nylon tee-shirt and aviator shades. Rodney recalls that Mitch showed more zeal than seamanship at the helm. “We’d take the speedboat through the locks on the river, that part was ok, but then we’d have to row it back in,” says Rodney, who expressed relief when his brother sold the vessel before returning to Louisiana.
Barnett apparently expected to find the same Boeing in North Charleston that he’d come to cherish and respect in Everett. The plant had just been completed as a super-advanced new facility for assembling the 787. “When he first got the job, he was all excited, and asked me if I’d be interested in working at the North Charleston plant, and said it would be a great job,” says Rodney, who spent 19 years in the Air Force as an avionics navigations systems specialist, and in retirement, serves as assistant chief for his local volunteer fire department. “I declined, but he was excited at being there, and being part of something new.” The optimism was short-lived. Vicky relates that she and her husband also lived in Goose Creek for eight months, just so she could be close to her son. “It was after the first year or two, and his concerns started to show,” she recounts. “He’d come home worried. He couldn’t believe the difference in culture between here and Seattle.” Adds Rodney, “He saw a big change in the way people conducted themselves, and conversed with him.”
Returning home, still battling Boeing
In early 2017, Barnett left Boeing following years in which he’d spotted multiple gaffes, ranging from misfiring oxygen tanks that rendered the safety masks that fall from the plane’s ceiling unusable in cases of decompression, to sharp titanium shards that that mixed with electrical wiring. Just before leaving, he filed a complaint with OSHA that’s now the basis of his labor lawsuit, claiming that his managers ignored many of his findings, and forced him out for constantly raising legitimate safety issues demanding immediate attention.
Motivating his move back to Alexandria was a desire to care for his mom, says Miss Vicky. “He could have moved near the three other boys, who are an hour to over two hours from Alexandria, but came here for me because he was worried about my health,” she remembers. But a year later, Barnett learned that Diane Johnson, who’d been diagnosed with brain cancer, would soon enter a nursing home. Barnett stepped forward to became his beloved companion’s caregiver; Diane moved to Alexandria and they married. While Diane was still active, the couple had a ball donning overalls and building and fiddling with off-road vehicles that Barnett raced on dirt tracks. “He traded asphalt in Washington for dirt in Louisiana,” notes Rodney. The couple constructed a road-going monstrosity pictured on the Tribute Wall from flat steel panels, in a narrow shape resembling a loaf. In a final flourish, they attached an alligator’s head to the right dashboard shelf.
“You could see in his quiet moments that he was suffering from high anxiety. He had a big load on him having to look over documents and give depositions in the Boeing case, that weighs on you,” Miss Vicky says of Barnett. “You could see the strain on his face. But he’d never load it on anyone else.” She adds that he showed only his bright side at family get-togethers, and especially to his nieces and nephews. Rodney revives the pivotal moment when his niece and rival off-road racer Katelyn Gillespie smashed into her uncle’s rig, knocking the alligator head askew. Says Rodney, “That was when Mitch gave up racing work on his niece’s car.”
For Miss Vicky, visiting Mitch and Diane was an uplifting experience. “Until she had her last stroke, they’d look at each other and laugh like they had a secret,” says his mom. “You couldn’t get depressed going to their house.” She credits her son’s devotion to prolonging Diane’s life. “They gave her 14 months to live when she was first diagnosed, and she lived almost five years,” says Miss Vicky. “Mitch took care of her like a baby, feeding her and sitting with her eight hours a day.” Diane died a few days before Thanksgiving in 2022.
Barnett’s family as new plaintiffs
For the funeral attended by over 100 people on Saturday, March 16, Barnett’s ex-wife Cindy attended with his two stepsons, and as did his lawyer Turkewitz and his wife. In the following days, the attorneys huddled with Rodney, Miss Vicky and other family members to explore if they wanted to substitute his seat for Barnett and continue the litigation, and they quickly agreed to do so. Vicky Stokes and Rodney Barnett insisted in our interview that their decision isn’t about money. “We’re bringing the case to show that my brother was right-on with his allegations from the start,” says Rodney. “Showing that will make air travel safer for our family and all the people he was worried about, and change Boeing’s culture.” The family members, though they’ve called for a thorough investigation of the tragedy, say they have done nothing to encourage or spread rumors that foul play caused his death.
The legal case has had a long back-and-forth history. It was filed under the federal “AIR-21” law that prohibits employers from retaliating against whistleblowers. In late 2020, OSHA effectively ruled in Boeing’s favor, finding “no reasonable cause” to believe that the aerospace giant had violated the act. Barnett’s lawyers then issued an amended complaint requesting a hearing from the Office of Administrative Law Judges at the U.S. Department of Labor, the current action seeking damages for harassment, lost pay, and emotional distress. Boeing filed a motion to dismiss the case. But in mid-2022, the Dept. of Labor Judge found in Barnett’s favor, writing that “I agree with the Complainant that and conclude that… the complaint adequately alleges a pattern of retaliatory conduct that rises to the level of a hostile work environment…and [unmerited] discharge.”
On March 20, Turkewitz and his co-counsel Brian Knowles made the complaint public for the first time in seven years. The 32-page document cites the titanium shards, oxygen mask problems, the installation of defective parts, and several other alleged violations of Boeing and FAA processes and procedures. It may be the most thorough eyewitness account of production lapses ever presented by a Boeing whistleblower. After Barnett’s attorneys released the complaint, Boeing issued a release that reprised its statement on his death two weeks earlier, saying that “We are saddened by Mr. Barnett’s passing, and our thoughts are with his family and friends,” and adding that “Boeing reviewed and addressed quality issues that Mr. Barnett raised before he retired, as well as other quality issues referred to in the complaint.”
The day before Barnett died, he delivered roughly four hours of testimony in the opulent downtown Charleston offices of Boeing’s trial lawyer; its outside counsel was also present. Barnett had wanted to leave Charleston that evening so that he could drive back to Alexandria by Sunday. But late on Friday, he agreed to finish his testimony on Saturday. “Let’s just get it done,” he’d declared. “I’ve already been waiting for seven years.”
Barnett had earlier told his mother that he’d make the two-day trip and be home by Sunday; Miss Vicky recalls that he also had an appointment for dinner with a close friend that evening. “He was worried about his health, he’d lost weight, he was my baby, but he looked older than my youngest son,” she told me. “But one thing didn’t stress him out. He told me, ‘Momma, I’ve never said anything but the truth. They’ll never catch me in a lie.’” She added on CBC Mornings, “If it hadn’t gone on so long, I’d still have my son, and his brothers would have their brother.” That Miss Vicky, Rodney and his family are pushing forward in one of the most dramatic campaigns in the annals of whistleblowing testifies to their confidence in a man drilled in honesty by a single-working mom, and a “cop-godfather” who started him on the straightest of paths, one that his family’s convinced, he never ceased to follow.
