Boeing Co. is about to reveal a massive reduction to its workforce in its Seattle area engineering unit in the next few days as the aircraft manufacturer resizes its headcount to slash expenses in the midst of the worst contraction in the aviation market's history.
According to the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, the organization that represents about 18,000 engineers in the Puget Sound hub, Boeing has informed union officers that notices on the looming job cuts will be released on Friday and some managers have already started warning workers that they will become jobless.
Boeing disclosed last month that it considered to slash 10 percent of its global headcount of around 160,000 workers, people with knowledge of the plan union officials revealed. According to a representative for the labor union, some 1,300 members of the group applied for and were granted to take buy-outs.
In April, Boeing chief executive Dave Calhoun disclosed the planemaker had started initiating efforts to cut the size of its workforce about 10 percent through a combination of voluntary terminations, natural turnover and even involuntary layoffs as needed.
The Puget Sound Business Journal bared that around 15 percent to 20 percent of Boeing's white collar engineering positions may be dissolved in Southern California and Seattle region.
In a report last month by the Wall Street Journal, it said Boeing may eliminate approximately 16,000 positions in the face of unstable business conditions that have been made worse by the ongoing global health crisis. The company has already started cutting jobs in Australia and Canada, the Business Journal added.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun warned last month that the group would have to let go of that number of people to reduce operations as a big number of its airline clients are also fighting to stay afloat. Competitor Airbus SE has also been considering deep employment reductions after disclosing efforts to limit output by around 70 percent.
Boeing told officials at the engineering union to expect cuts of between 15% and 20% of white-collar workers in the Seattle area and Southern California, according to the Puget Sound Business Journal, which reported the discussions earlier.
Calhoun has pointed out that he does not expect revenues to return to figures they had last year in the next three years, or to start growing substantially until mid-decade. The company has also drawn down $13.8 billion loan and released some $25 billion in bonds to establish a cash supply to help Boeing survive years of market turmoil.
