Boeing initiates drastic cuts with over 400 layoff notices

More than 400 members of the professional aerospace labor union have received layoff letters from Boeing, which is part of thousands of anticipated cuts as the business works to recover from regulatory and financial issues as well as an eight-week strike by its machinists’ union.

According to The Seattle Times, members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, or SPEEA, received their pink slips last week. The employees will continue to be paid until the middle of January.

In October, Boeing declared that it would eliminate 17,000 positions, or 10% of its workforce, over the next several months. Kelly Ortberg, the CEO, informed staff that the organization needed to “reset its workforce levels to align with our financial reality.”

438 members were impacted by the cuts, according to the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, or SPEEA, union. 17,000 Boeing workers, mostly based in Washington, but also in Oregon, California, and Utah, are members of the local chapter of the union.

218 of those 438 employees are part of SPEEA’s professional unit, which consists of scientists and engineers. The remaining individuals belong to the technical unit, which consists of experienced tradesmen, analysts, planners, and technicians.

For a maximum of three months, qualified workers will get subsidized health care benefits and career transition services. Additionally, workers will receive severance compensation, which is usually equivalent to one week’s wages for each year of service.

Following the walkout, Boeing’s unionized machinists started going back to work early this month.

Boeing’s finances were stretched by the strike. In a call with analysts in October, however, Ortberg stated that it was not the reason for the layoffs, which he attributed to overstaffing.

Since a panel broke off the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines aircraft in January, Arlington, Virginia-based Boeing has been facing financial and regulatory issues. The Federal Aviation Administration set a monthly production cap of 38 737 MAX aircraft, which Boeing has not yet met, and production rates reduced to a crawl.

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