Boeing will layoff more than 2,500 workers in the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, South Carolina and Missouri, according to federally required filings posted on Monday and a union official. This Boeing workforce cuts are a result of upheaval at the struggling aerospace giant continues to rattle local economies around the region.
(Image Credit: boeing)
As part of the debt-heavy U.S. planemaker Boeing’s plan to cut 17,000 jobs, or 10% of its global workforce. Boeing has sent nearly 2,200 layoff notices for workers in Washington and another 220 in South Carolina. The two states where Boeing builds commercial airliners. Boeing declined to comment on the layoffs on Monday.
The aerospace giant started telling affected U.S. workers were being laid off on Wednesday that they will stay on Boeing’s payroll until January 17. This is to comply with federal requirements to notify employees at least 60 days prior to ending their employment.
Everett, where Boeing has the highest concentration of workers among its 66,000-person Washington labor force, saw the greatest number of layoffs. According to the notice, Boeing cut 1,160 people from its facilities in Everett, which employ roughly 35,000 workers.
Boeing also laid off 337 workers in Renton, where it employs roughly 13,000 people. The layoffs hit 235 people in Seattle, 148 in Tukwila, 136 in Auburn and 79 in Kent, among many other cities that saw a handful of job cuts.
The layoffs included engineers, human resources, IT, office administrators, and health and safety roles, among many job titles, according to the 27-page document listing each affected position.
Boeing’s WARN notice
News that Boeing would send out the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) in mid-November was widely expected. Another round is expected in December. Boeing could also use workforce attrition, selective hiring and sales of subsidiaries to reduce workforce.
In October, Boeing’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, said the company does not intend to “take people off production or out of the engineering labs.” Industry-watchers have been waiting for the WARNs for some indication of how the layoffs could affect workers in the company’s key manufacturing hubs.
Boeing’s difficult decision to layoff U.S. workers
“The Boeing Company has made the difficult decision to reduce its workforce,” Elizabeth French, a workplace specialist at Boeing, wrote in the company’s letter to the Washington Employment Security Department. “This decision is expected to result in the permanent layoff of approximately 2,199 employees at the Company’s Washington state locations.”
Several hundred engineers and production workers were among those who received pink slips last week.
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace said 438 of the union’s members at Boeing received layoff notices last week, including 218 engineers and 220 technicians.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District Lodge 837 in St. Louis said Boeing sent notices to 111 members, most of whom made wing components for the 777X.
Who is being laid off seems to vary between sections within Boeing, several non-union workers who received WARNs told Reuters.
One engineer in Boeing Defense, Space & Security said all but two or three members of his 12-person team were let go, while another said she was the only one of her roughly 20-person team to receive a WARN. Both said they provide vital support for production and design engineers, but they are not considered to work in production.
Boeing to restart production of 737 MAX
Laid-off employees will receive career transition services and subsidized health care benefits for up to three months, Boeing said. Workers will also receive severance pay, which will typically be one week of pay for every year of service.
The notices come as Boeing tries to restart production of its strongest-selling 737 MAX, after weeks-long strike by more than 33,000 U.S. West Coast workers halted output of most of its commercial jets.
