Boeing Lays Off 438 Union Workers As Drastic Cuts Begin

Boeing, still grappling with financial setbacks, regulatory scrutiny, and the aftershocks of an eight-week machinists’ strike, has begun delivering layoff notices to more than 400 members of its unionized workers as part of a broader plan to cut approximately 10% of its workforce, or 17,000 jobs.

The layoffs target members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA), a union representing thousands of Boeing employees. According to the union, 438 members received pink slips last week, with affected employees remaining on the payroll through mid-January.

According to an October statement by Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg, the layoffs are the result of ‘overstaffing,’ adding that the company must “reset its workforce levels to align with our financial reality.”

Of the 438 SPEEA members impacted:

• 218 are engineers and scientists from the union’s professional unit.
• 220 are from the technical unit, which includes roles such as planners, technicians, and skilled tradespeople.

SPEEA, which represents 17,000 Boeing workers, noted that most of its members are based in Washington State, though the layoffs also affect employees in Oregon, California, and Utah.

For those losing their jobs, Boeing is offering limited support, including career transition services, subsidized healthcare benefits for up to three months, and severance packages typically amounting to one week of pay per year of service.

A Company Under Pressure

Boeing’s challenges have been mounting for years, exacerbated by a series of missteps and external pressures.

Boeing, based in Arlington, Virginia, has been in financial and regulatory trouble since a panel blew off the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines plane in January. 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 has yet to reach. -AP

The company’s troubles worsened in September when its machinists went on strike for eight weeks, further disrupting operations. Although unionized machinists began returning to work earlier this month, the strike strained Boeing’s already fragile finances.

Ortberg has insisted that the layoffs are unrelated to the strike and are instead part of broader efforts to address overstaffing. However, the timing has raised questions among labor advocates and analysts, who point to the compounding financial pressures Boeing faces.