Boeing to lay off 4,500

Boeing Co. said Friday that it will lay off 4,500 workers at its Seattle-based Commercial Airplanes unit.

The division, which builds widebody planes such as the 747 in Everett and the 737 jets in Renton, will be reduced to 63,500 workers, which Boeing said was the level of employees in early 2008.

Chicago-based Boeing (NYSE: BA) said many of the layoffs will be in overhead functions not directly associated with airplane construction. Affected workers will be notified beginning in late February.

“We regret the disruption to those affected by this decision, but we believe that acting now will allow us to be in a financial position to adapt to market uncertainties, meet our customer commitments, continue investing in our current and future product lines, and protect our competitiveness in a fiercely competitive business environment,” said Scott Carson, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, in a statement.

Boeing said Thursday that the 58-day Machinists’ strike last fall hurt its total yearly delivery of commercial airplanes, with the company reporting 375 planes delivered in 2008, down from 441 a year earlier.

Boeing spokesman Tim Healy said the intent is to keep production lines rolling, while cutting costs.

“We’re going to be focused on overhead positions that aren’t directly involved in producing airplanes,” he said. “We don’t anticipate a change in our rate of production, we don’t want to impact development programs like 787 and adversely impact the delivery schedule they’re trying to meet.”

Only 55,000 of BCA’s current 68,000 workers are in Washington State, but Healy said it’s too early to tell if the reductions will be proportional. The unit also makes commercial airplane assemblies in Portland and Salt Lake City.

The 68,000 also includes about 3,000 contract workers, but Healy said there’s no guarantee that these people will be let go first.

“If you're a contract worker, and you have skills critical to producing these airplanes then no,” he said. “It’s going to depend more on what your skills are, rather than your position as a contact worker.”

Healy said the announced layoffs will not include people from other Boeing organizations such as Shared Services Group, or Integrated Defense Systems. Shared Services runs facilities companywide and includes many workers in Washington, while Integrated Defense Systems, which makes military equipment, also employs thousands of people in the region.

“Each business unit of Boeing, is continually going to be evaluating its employment, and matching the number of people with the work in front of them, what’s their business plan, the revenues in front of them,” he said.

He discounted talk that this was just the beginning, and that more layoffs are planned for later in the year.

“It’s not like we’re making this announcement, and anticipate another shoe to drop. As we see it, this is what we need to do,” he said.

Healy also said it’s possible that some hiring will continue to meet specialized needs, even in the middle of the larger reduction.

Washington officials expressed disappointment about the layoff announcement.

“The announcement that Boeing plans to lay off part of its work force is sad and disappointing, and yet more evidence of the deepening national recession ... While I understand this was a business decision, I feel for those workers and their families,” said Gov. Chris Gregoire, in a statement.

Steve Wilhelm of the Puget Sound Business Journal, an affiliated publication, compiled this report.