Boeing layoffs: 5% of staff cut as company 'resets pace of production'
A little over a month after avoiding a strike with its employees, Boeing has announced that it will be cutting about 5% of its staff, citing a need to "reset the pace of our production."
In an email obtained by FOX 13, company leaders said that while the company has made progress over the last two years stemming from investments in talent, training and infrastructure, it "has not yet fully recovered."
What they're saying:
An email written by Stephanie Pope, the president and CEO of Boeing's Commercial Airplanes division, stated that the layoffs stem from the company's change in production schedule.
Pope also noted that employees in this department have made significant contributions to two of the company's most recent accomplishments, the certification of the 737-7 and the 737-10.
"As shared in our third-quarter earnings, we need to reset the pace of our production rate ramps to provide our factories and supply chain partners additional time to achieve stability," Pope writes. "Adjusting our production schedules and reducing aircraft output puts us in an overstaffed position."
Notifications for the layoffs are expected to start going out in December.
"I know how difficult these actions are and the impact they will have on all of us, our families, and our communities. We will never take that lightly," Pope said. "Thank you for everything you do to support each other and our customers. The progress we have made demonstrates what is possible when we remain focused, resilient, and committed to one another."
The backstory:
The announcement comes about one month since Boeing workers voted to approve new contracts, which averted a looming strike.
The agreement secured an immediate 10% wage increase starting Friday for engineers, scientists, designers, analysts, and other technical personnel.
The majority of these employees are located in Washington, according to the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), with workers also in Oregon, California, and Utah.
Union members previously rejected an earlier contract proposal in August, which raised the possibility of a work stoppage.
Dig deeper:
Within the last two years, Boeing has laid off a portion of its workforce at least two other times.
In Nov. 2024, the company cut about 17,000 employees, which equaled about 10% of its workforce at the time. The cuts came after a labor union strike.
Then, on Dec. 9, 2024, an additional 396 more workers were laid off.
At the time, CEO Kelly Ortberg said that the strike did not cause the layoffs, instead pointing to overstaffing.
Boeing, based in Arlington, Virginia, has been in financial trouble since two crashes of its 737 MAX jetliner killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019. The company’s fortunes and reputation took a further hit when a panel blew off the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines plane in January 2024.
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 Source: Information for this story came from an email obtained by FOX13 from Boeing communications officials and previous reporting by FOX 13 Seattle.
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