Nearly 2,200 layoff notices went to workers in Washington and another 220 in South Carolina, the two states where Boeing builds commercial airliners.
According to federally mandated records made on Monday and a union representative, Boeing plans to lay off about 2,500 employees in the U.S. states of Washington, Oregon, South Carolina, and Missouri as part of its goal to reduce 17,000 positions, or 10% of its worldwide workforce.
Employees in Washington and South Carolina, where Boeing manufactures commercial aircraft, received over 2,200 notifications of layoffs. Boeing refused to comment on Monday’s layoffs.
In order to meet regulatory obligations to provide employees at least 60 days’ notice before terminating their employment, the aerospace giant began informing impacted U.S. workers on Wednesday that they will remain on Boeing’s payroll until January 17.
It was generally anticipated that Boeing will issue the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) around the middle of November. In December, another round is anticipated. To cut staff, Boeing may also use subsidiary sales, selective recruiting, and employee attrition.
Boeing’s stock closed Monday at $143.87, up 2.6%.
Kelly Ortberg, the company’s new CEO, stated in October that Boeing had no plans to “take people off production or out of the engineering labs.” Observers of the industry have been waiting for the WARNs to provide some insight into the potential effects of the layoffs on employees in the company’s major production centers.
However, last week, several hundred factory workers and engineers were given pink slips.
According to the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, 218 engineers and 220 technicians were among the 438 union members who were given layoff letters at Boeing last week.
Boeing delivered letters to 111 members, the majority of whom manufactured wing components for the 777X, according to the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) District Lodge 837 in St. Louis.
Several non-union employees who got WARNs told Reuters that it appears that different parts of Boeing have different layoff policies.
One engineer at Boeing Defense, Space & Security said that all but two or three of his team of twelve employees were fired, while another claimed that she was the only member of her team of about twenty employees to receive a WARN. Both stated that although they are not regarded as manufacturing workers, they offer crucial assistance to design and production engineers.
Following a weeks-long strike by over 33,000 U.S. West Coast workers that halted manufacturing of the majority of Boeing’s commercial planes, the company is attempting to resume production of its best-selling 737 MAX.
After two prior offers were rejected, union members voted 59% in favor of a new deal earlier this month that provides a 38% salary increase over four years.