Boeing to cut about 17,000 jobs as strike drags on

Boeing will cut 10% of its workforce in coming weeks and had called a halt to its 767 freighter program. It announced the changes on Friday, as the company deals with a strike called last month by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

About 33,000 union members walked off the job in mid-September, after having rejected a four-year contract. The company says the union had made “unreasonable demands,” and this week filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the union of bad faith bargaining and using with a campaign of misinformation to sabotage negotiations, actions that have harmed the company and its workers.

Included in the job cuts are workers at every level, from executives to factory workers. CEO Kelly Ortberg said the layoffs will take place over the “coming months” and will be worldwide.

Boeing employs about 170,000 workers; about 150,000 of the workers are in the United States and the company supports 1.6 million direct and indirect jobs, and $79 billion in economic benefit to the country. It has major plants in Everett and Renton, Washington, in South Carolina and Missouri. Everett’s Boeing plant is the world’s largest manufacturing building.

The striking portion of the workforce equals more than 19% of the company’s employees that are refusing to work.

“We need to be clear-eyed about the work we face and realistic about the time it will take to achieve key milestones on the path to recovery. We also need to focus our resources on performing and innovating in the areas that are core to who we are, rather than spreading ourselves across too many efforts that can often result in underperformance and underinvestment,” the email said.

The strike has frozen production of Boeing 737 Max, which impacts Alaska Airlines more than any other customer. Alaska Airlines had been expecting to take delivery of 14 737 Maxes from September through December, 2024.

Boeing will finish deliver the 29 remaining 767 model freighters that customers have ordered, but then end that program in 2027. Those models are built in Everett, Wash. The 767 freighters are much favored by Amazon, UPS, and FedEx, which fly them through Anchorage frequently.

The company will, however, continue to produce the KC-46A tanker, also built in Everett.

Otberg’s email said there will also be a delivery delay of the 777X airplane until 2026. The 777X program, like the 737, is located in Everett.