Published November 2001

Boeing hands out
first-round layoff notices

By Bryan Corliss
Herald Economy Writer

The Boeing Co. has begun giving layoff notices to about 10 percent of the work force in its commercial airplane and shared services divisions, which employ more than 70,000 people around Puget Sound.

The exact number of cuts and where they are coming from are issues Boeing officials likely will continue to wrestle with right up until the layoffs take effect Dec. 14, said Charles Bofferding, Executive Director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.

But based on what company officials have told him, Bofferding said workers in parts fabrication and airplane assembly jobs in Renton and Everett are among those getting pink slips in the first wave of layoffs. Workers in research areas — such as those working on Sonic Cruiser development in Everett — are somewhat protected.

About 2,000 engineers and technicians were expected to get the bad news Oct. 12, Bofferding said. The union estimates about half of those people are contract workers, the rest regular employees represented by SPEEA.

Between 3,300 and 3,600 members of the International Association of Machinists were expected to get layoff notices at that time, according to union officials.

As many as 30,000 Boeing workers could be laid off in three waves by the end of 2002 because of the severe downturn in the airline industry following the Sept. 11 terror attacks, company officials have said.

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