“This was deliberate.”
I worked for two military contractors who made a deal with Tallahassee that they would hire hundreds of people off welfare. The welfare people were given a choice, work for the companies or lose welfare. The jobs were good. The pay and benefits were excellent. The workers were resentful of their forced choice and sabotaged the equipment costing the companies millions of dollars in recalls and rework. One wonders if the deal with the city was worth it.
I would say, yes, this sabotage was deliberate. Having visited Boeing in Seattle as part of a contract, I believe that a significant number of their employees have a concept that they are being “forced” to work. As bizarre as that sounds, that was how I would describe their attitude.
I am a former DoD QA aircraft/aerospace/electronics guy.
I worked at Grumman Aerospace befoe and after Northrop.
I have done FOD inspections on all sorts of airframes, space shuttle and ISS assemblies. This was ‘end of employment day’ stuff!