Thousands of Boeing employees are set to receive layoff notices within weeks, industry sources said, as a top U.S. official traveled to Seattle to try to ease a crippling strike and a major airline issued a warning about deep turmoil for the planemaker.
Acting US Labor Secretary Julie Su’s first in-person intervention comes days after Boeing BANN unveiled plans to cut 17,000 jobs and take $5 billion in charges, continuing a year of turmoil for the company.
In a statement issued Monday, a Labor Department spokesperson said: “Acting Secretary Su is meeting with the parties today to assess the situation and encourage the parties to move forward with the negotiation process.”
While Su has previously spoken with Boeing and the striking West Coast plant workers union, this is her first time in Seattle meeting both sides in person.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) said its chief negotiator, John Holden, briefed Su on current talks, “stressing the union’s commitment to a negotiated contract that values the skills and dedication of our members.”
Boeing and a White House spokesman declined to comment on Su’s visit.
Nearly 33,000 workers have been on strike since September 13 to demand a 40% wage increase over four years.
Next month, Boeing will send 60-day notices to thousands of workers, including many in its commercial aviation division, meaning those employees will leave the company in mid-January, a source familiar with the matter said.
The second phase of notifications, if necessary, may be rolled out in December, the source said.
A spokesman for the Aerospace Professional Engineering Employees Association, which represents Boeing engineers, said the company informed the union on Monday that 60-day notices to its members would be issued on November 15.
A Boeing spokesman said the company shared information with managers including plans for 10% cuts at its business unit that includes union and non-union workers.
The striking IAM employees are currently unaffected, the spokesperson added.
Brian Bryant, international president of IAM, described the job cuts plan as “corporate greed at its worst”.
“Boeing just turned its back on 17,000 of its workers — the same people who led Boeing through crisis after crisis, year after year,” he said in a statement.
Sources said that Boeing will refrain from requesting voluntary departures to limit severance funds and avoid skill migration, adding that the company will rely only on involuntary layoffs. Competitors are exploiting scarce labor to relieve pressure on aviation supply chains.
“The trick will not be to lose 10% of the people you want to retain, which is more important than usual in a post-pandemic skills shortage environment,” said Nick Cunningham, an analyst at Partners.
Boeing has hired workers to prepare for higher production rates that did not materialize as production was capped by regulators after a door plug exploded on an Alaska Airlines plane in January.