Boeing issues 300 layoff notices

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Boeing issues 1,100 layoff warnings

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Boeing sends 668 layoff notices

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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.

Boeing to lay off 800 at IDS in Wichita

The Boeing Co. plans to cut 800 jobs, including management, at its Integrated Defense Systems facility in Wichita, Kan., next year.

Boeing said the cuts were due to the delay in the U.S. Air Force tanker-replacement program.

The layoffs will impact managers, salaried and hourly workers.

Boeing will deliver 60-day layoff notices to approximately 76 employees Friday. Their last day of work is scheduled for mid-January. The company will deliver the rest of the layoff notices throughout 2009, with most occurring in the first half of the year.

Boeing Wichita today employs 3,000 people.

A unit of The Boeing Co. [NYSE: BA], Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $32.1 billion business with 71,000 employees worldwide.

Mass layoffs spike in Kansas

The economy has taken a toll on Kansas businesses.

The state saw its mass layoff events spike dramatically, jumping from six in September to 18 in October, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The jump also means unemployment claims are also on the rise.

In September 478 unemployment claims were filed, but that number climbed to 2,543 in October.

The numbers are sure to increase in future labor department studies as well. Three of Wichita’s largest aircraft manufacturers recently announced mass layoffs. They include:

• Hawker Beechcraft Corp. — 490.

• Cessna Aircraft Co. — 500.

• The Boeing Co. (Integrated Defense Systems-Wichita) — 800

The department of labor defines a mass layoff as eliminating 50 or more jobs from the same company.

Boeing to lay off about 150 IT workers

Posted by Marce Edwards @ 02:16:10 pm

Boeing Co. is laying off about 150 employees in a computer network operations unit as it outsources information technology work to Computer Sciences Corp, The Associated Press reports.

The workers, all but about two dozen of them in the Seattle area, received 60-day layoff notices last Friday, Boeing spokesman Cathy Rudolph said.

The affected employees are systems analysts, including administrators and design and integration specialists in Boeing’s Engineering, Operations and Technology division, which has a work force of about 12,300.

El Segundo, Calif.-based CSC took over computer-systems monitoring, support and administration at Boeing’s St. Louis-based defense arm in 2003.

CSC will now handle that work for all of Boeing’s U.S. locations, Rudolph said Thursday.Some of the affected workers may find other jobs at Boeing, while others could be hired by CSC, Rudolph said.

149 face layoffs at booming Boeing

By Dominic Gates
Seattle Times aerospace reporter

With the airplane business booming, Boeing has added airplane engineers and production workers at a fast clip since mid-2004.

But Friday, 149 senior information-technology staff members received 60-day layoff notices.

The airplane manufacturer is outsourcing their work to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) of El Segundo, Calif.

The people facing layoff are systems analysts, including administrators and design and integration specialists, mostly long-serving and nonunion professional staff.

Of the total, 123 are Puget Sound region employees. The rest are scattered around the U.S.

Boeing spokeswoman Cathy Rudolph said, "We have a very large IT population. We're always studying where does it make sense to do that work."

Rudolph added, "There is no overarching strategy to outsource large portions of IT work."

Some of the affected staff may find other positions within Boeing, while others have the option to be hired by CSC, Rudolph said.

An employee in the affected unit, Computer and Network Operations (CNO), said in an e-mail that CSC will have a job fair at Boeing this week.

Rudolph declined to comment on whether anyone moving from Boeing to CSC would see a significant difference in salary.

In 2003, CSC took over computer-systems monitoring, support and administration at Boeing's defense unit. CSC will now take over that role throughout Boeing

The company also bid to take over Boeing's mainframe operations, but according to the CNO employee, the bid came in higher than the in-house operation.

Rudolph confirmed this work will be kept within Boeing.

She said the outsourced work is "in line with CSC's core business." However, she said that doesn't mean Boeing intends to outsource more IT work.

CNO is headed by Boeing Vice President Radha Radhakrishnan, who has been discussing a restructuring of the unit internally for more than a year, Rudolph said.

Radhakrishnan sent a memo to all CNO employees last month saying that "the CNO Leadership Team has been working over the last four months to 'Paint the Future' of this organization," adding that the outsourcing would "achieve significant savings."

Radhakrishnan previously headed IT at Boeing's Satellite unit in El Segundo and is based in Seal Beach, Southern California.

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com

149 face layoffs at booming Boeing

By Dominic Gates
Seattle Times aerospace reporter

With the airplane business booming, Boeing has added airplane engineers and production workers at a fast clip since mid-2004.

But Friday, 149 senior information-technology staff members received 60-day layoff notices.

The airplane manufacturer is outsourcing their work to Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC) of El Segundo, Calif.

The people facing layoff are systems analysts, including administrators and design and integration specialists, mostly long-serving and nonunion professional staff.

Of the total, 123 are Puget Sound region employees. The rest are scattered around the U.S.

Boeing spokeswoman Cathy Rudolph said, "We have a very large IT population. We're always studying where does it make sense to do that work."

Rudolph added, "There is no overarching strategy to outsource large portions of IT work."

Some of the affected staff may find other positions within Boeing, while others have the option to be hired by CSC, Rudolph said.

An employee in the affected unit, Computer and Network Operations (CNO), said in an e-mail that CSC will have a job fair at Boeing this week.

Rudolph declined to comment on whether anyone moving from Boeing to CSC would see a significant difference in salary.

In 2003, CSC took over computer-systems monitoring, support and administration at Boeing's defense unit. CSC will now take over that role throughout Boeing

The company also bid to take over Boeing's mainframe operations, but according to the CNO employee, the bid came in higher than the in-house operation.

Rudolph confirmed this work will be kept within Boeing.

She said the outsourced work is "in line with CSC's core business." However, she said that doesn't mean Boeing intends to outsource more IT work.

CNO is headed by Boeing Vice President Radha Radhakrishnan, who has been discussing a restructuring of the unit internally for more than a year, Rudolph said.

Radhakrishnan sent a memo to all CNO employees last month saying that "the CNO Leadership Team has been working over the last four months to 'Paint the Future' of this organization," adding that the outsourcing would "achieve significant savings."

Radhakrishnan previously headed IT at Boeing's Satellite unit in El Segundo and is based in Seal Beach, Southern California.

Dominic Gates: 206-464-2963 or dgates@seattletimes.com