Boeing has handed out layoff notices to more than 400 members of its aviation workers’ union, part of thousands of planned cuts as the company struggles to recover from the crisis. Financial and organizational problem as well Strike for eight weeks By the Mechanics Union.
Pink confetti was distributed last week to members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, or SPEEA, The Seattle Times reported. The workers will remain on the payroll until mid-January.
Boeing Announced in October It plans to cut 10% of its workforce, or about 17,000 jobs, in the coming months. CEO Kelly Ortberg told employees that the company must “recalibrate its workforce levels to match our financial reality.”
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, or SPEEA, said the cuts affected 438 members. The local branch of the union includes 17,000 Boeing employees, most of whom are based in Washington, and some in Oregon, California and Utah.
Among these 438 workers, 218 are members of SPEEA’s professional unit, which includes engineers and scientists. The rest are members of the technical unit, which includes skilled analysts, planners, technicians and traders.
Eligible employees will receive career transition services and subsidized health care benefits for up to three months. Workers will also receive severance pay, usually about one week of pay for each year of service.
Boeing’s unionized mechanical workers began returning to work earlier this month after striking.
The strike strained Boeing’s finances. But Ortberg said on a call with analysts in October that it did not cause layoffs, which he described as a result of the increase in headcount.
Boeing, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, has been facing financial and regulatory problems since 2008 A panel of the fuselage exploded For an Alaska Airlines plane in January. Production rates have slowed to a crawl, and the Federal Aviation Administration has capped 737 MAX production at 38 planes per month, a limit Boeing has not yet reached.