SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing has laid off hundreds more employees in Washington state and California as part of planned workforce reductions that are expected to eventually reduce the company’s workforce by about 17,000 people.
Nearly 400 Boeing employees were laid off in Washington state and more than 500 in California, news outlets reported Monday.
The aerospace giant previously announced it would cut its workforce by 10% in the coming months as it attempts to recover from financial and regulatory woes and a strike by its machinists that lasted nearly two month.
CEO Kelly Ortberg said the strike did not cause the layoffs, which he said were the result of excess staffing.
In November, the company began notifying workers who would be laid off. Notices filed with state employment agencies showed that the first round of budget cuts affected about 3,500 people across the country, The Seattle Times reported.
The reductions affected people in positions ranging from engineers to recruiters to analysts and impacted Boeing’s commercial, defense and global services divisions.
Boeing said most laid-off employees would remain on payroll for about two months and receive severance pay, career transition services and subsidized health insurance benefits for up to three months. .
“As we announced in early October, we are adjusting our workforce to align with our financial reality and a more focused set of priorities,” Boeing spokespeople said of the layoffs.
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 an additional hit when a panel blew up the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines plane. in January.
