Layoffs Come Following A Round Of Voluntary And Involuntary Layoffs Over The Past Year

Boeing appears to be preparing for another round of layoffs both in Washington State and other locations as they work to trim costs.

GeekWire reports that the job cuts, which are likely to begin June 23, were announced in a widely-circulated memo from John Hamilton, vice president of engineering at Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

Reuters quoted the memo as saying: "We are moving forward with a second phase of involuntary layoffs for some select skills in Washington state and other enterprise locations. We anticipate this will impact hundreds of Engineering employees. Additional reductions in Engineering later this year will be driven by our business environment and the amount of voluntary attrition."

SPEEA spokesman Bill Dugovich told GeekWire that the union has requested further information from the planemaker about its plans. In South Carolina, the Post and Courier newspaper quotes a Boeing spokeswoman as saying "there have been no involuntary layoff notices issued at Boeing South Carolina."

Boeing says that increased competition from Airbus and a challenging market for commercial airplanes has prompted this and previous job reductions. The company said in a statement that it is continuing to follow the plan outlined to Boeing Commercial Airplanes employees in December 2016. 

"In an ongoing effort to increase overall competitiveness and invest in our future, we are reducing costs and matching employment levels to business and market requirements.  Employment reductions, including managers and executives, will come through a combination of attrition, leaving open positions unfilled, a voluntary layoff program and in some cases, involuntary layoffs. All information is being shared directly with employees,” the statement reads.

(Image from file)

FMI: www.boeing.com