Boeing to Lay Off Hundreds of Engineers

Memo says hundreds of workers will receive layoff notices on Friday.

Yesterday, Boeing issued a memo to its engineering staff. It stated that that hundreds of workers will receive layoff notices on Friday.

Faced with increasing competition, and slow aircraft sales, the company's latest round of layoffs will start June 23, 2017.

According to The Seattle Times, this latest round of layoffs will be issued the same day that about 1,000 machinists will clock out for the final time with the company. They were a part of the 300 engineers, and 1,500 machinists who accepted a voluntary buyout from the company in January.

Unfortunately, it sounds like more layoffs are on the horizon for the company. According to John Hamilton, vice president of engineering at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, and the man behind the memo, the business environment and the amount of voluntary attrition will likely mean that additional reductions in engineering will be required later this year.

According to South Carolina's Post and Courier, the cuts will not impact the company's facilities in North Charleston, which is also home to the company's 787 Dreamliner campus.

The AFP says the cuts will primarily affect production sites in Washington state, where Boeing is the biggest private employer with more than 70,000 workers. 

Boeing currently has more than 145,000 employees, but employment is down 7.6 percent from last year.

This is IEN Now with David Mantey.


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