Nearly 2,200 WA Boeing workers receive layoff notices as company begins staff reductions

Boeing said in a notice filed with Washington's Employment Security Department (ESD) on Monday that it has so far laid off 2,199 workers in the state, among job cuts that will eventually total about 17,000 across the company.

The aerospace giant announced in October that it planned to cut 10% of its workforce, about 17,000 jobs, in the coming months as it struggles to recover from financial and regulatory troubles as well as a strike by its machinists that lasted nearly two months.

CEO Kelly Ortberg told employees the company must "reset its workforce levels to align with our financial reality."

That notice came in the midst of what would end up being a seven-week strike with 33,000 machinists union members walking picket lines. Those union members ratified a new deal the first week of November and are not back on the job.
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Denise Whitaker

“Our insurance is already active, so happy on that, and I feel like you know, Boeing really took care of giving these bonuses,” Rony, a union member, told KOMO News as he left the Renton plant at the end of his shift.

Before they went back to work, their union president said layoffs right now would be "very short-sided." Jon Holden said he hoped the company would reconsider since it is facing a backlog of almost 5,500 airplanes.

He said they need their members back to work, ramping up, to start delivering airplanes.

Before the layoff notices were delivered last week, Boeing had 66,000 workers in Washington. According to the ESD, those layoffs are permanent and expected to start on Dec. 20.

Among the layoffs so far are notices that went out last week to more than 400 members of Boeing's professional aerospace labor union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, or SPEEA. Those employees, 218 in the engineering unit and 220 in tech, which includes analysts, technicians and planners will remain on the payroll through mid-January.

SPEA is holding meetings with its members to explain their rights under their contract, help them fill out unemployment insurance forms, and provide career transition services as they look for new employment.

Most of the layoff notices going out include a 60-day notice. Eligible employees will also get three additional months of subsidized health care, severance pay, and career transition help.

The decision to lay off employees comes from the company's $25 billion in losses over the past five years, according to Ortberg. The losses are partially attributed to the fatal crashes of the MAX jets in 2018 and 2019, and a door plug blowout over Oregon earlier this year.

Production rates slowed to a crawl, and the Federal Aviation Administration capped production of the 737 MAX at 38 planes per month, a threshold Boeing had yet to reach when the machinists' strike halted assembly lines.

The strike strained Boeing's finances. But Ortberg said on an October call with analysts that it did not cause the layoffs, which he described as a result of overstaffing.

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