Boeing is laying off more than 2,200 workers — many just days before Christmas — as it struggles to recover from a series of safety problems and a nearly two-month strike by machinists that crippled production.
The aerospace giant plans to eliminate 2,199 jobs at various locations in Washington state starting on Dec. 20, according to a notice posted online Friday by the state Employment Security Department.
Another 50 layoffs are set to start Jan. 17 at company facility in Portland, Oregon, according to a company letter dated Friday and posted online by the state’s Office of Workforce Investments.
The job cuts are part of a plan to trim 17,000 employees, or 10% of Boeing’s global labor pool. Another round of layoff notices is expected next month, Reuters reported.
The debt-ridden company said Monday that it was “adjusting our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and a more focused set of priorities,” but declined to provide more details, the Washington State Standard reported.
“We’re not breaking down the types of workers or by geography/facility,” Boeing spokesperson Bobbie Egan told the Standard in an email. “The layoffs are across Boeing.”
Although new CEO Kelly Ortberg said last month that the company didn’t plan to “take people off production or out of the engineering labs,” several hundred engineers received layoff notices last week, according to Reuters.
An engineer in Boeing Defense, Space & Security told Reuters that all but two or three members of his 12-person team were being laid off, while another said she was the only one of her roughly 20-person team to be let go. Both said they provide vital support for production and design engineers but weren’t considered production workers.
Boeing’s safety record has come under scrutiny by federal regulators and lawmakers after overseas crashes killed a total of 346 people in 2018 and 2019. Boeing also suffered a highly publicized January incident in which a fuselage panel blew out of an Alaska Airlines jet midair after it took off from Portland, Oregon.
In September, 33,000 Boeing machinists rejected a contract offer and walked off the job, halting production of the company’s 737, 767 and 777 jetliners. The strike starved the company of cash and contributed to a third-quarter loss of $6.2 billion.
Earlier this month, the machinists voted to accept Boeing’s fourth contract offer, which includes a 38% wage increase over four years.
Boeing stock closed Monday at $143.87 a share, up 2.63% for the day but down nearly 43% since the start of the year.
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