Boeing has reportedly let go about 400 employees in Washington and 500 in California as part of its workforce-trimming exercise. The aerospace company is in the process of reducing its global team by 10 per cent and had earlier announced intentions to cut around 17,000 roles from its global team. As part of this exercise it had let go over 400 people in November, all members of Boeing’s professional aerospace labour union.
These job cuts in Washington and California have primarily impacted Boeing’s commercial, defence and global services divisions.
The company has been fighting a financial crisis for some time now. To add to that the employees went on strike for eight weeks stalling production. The layoff doesn’t come as a shock because Boeing had announced plans to cut 17,000 jobs even while 33,000 workers were on strike demanding a 40 per cent wage hike among other things. The strike has adversely affected the production of the 737 MAX and 777 models among other jets. The loss incurred by the company due to work stoppage was reportedly about $ 5 billion in Q3. In fact, while the strike was on, it was reported that Boeing was losing about a billion dollars every month.
At the time of the November cuts, Boeing had said that eligible employees would be provided support with career transition along with subsidised healthcare benefits for up to three months. Severance pay of a week’s pay for each year of service would also be provided.
Boeing is now focusing on restoring the production of 737 MAX aircraft, which was stalled by the strike that witnessed participation by more than 33,000 workers.
