This year’s harsh string of layoffs continues with Boeing being the latest company to announce cuts to its workforce.
The airplane manufacturing company will lay off 10 percent of its workforce — roughly 17,000 jobs. Job cuts will include executives, middle management, and employees.
The decision was announced to employees in a message from President and CEO Kelly Ortberg who took over just two months ago. He wrote that in order to restore the company “tough decisions” and “structural changes” needed to be made to “stay competitive.” Ortberg also announced Boeing will delay the release of its new plane the 777X to 2026 and will stop building the 767 Freighter after fulfilling orders.
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According to the Associated Press, Boeing has lost $25 billion since the start of 2019.
Perhaps coincidentally, the layoffs have happened as some 33,000 union machinists have gone on strike — bringing Boeing’s airplane production of some of its best-selling planes to a halt. The company, however, continues to build 787s at a non-union plant. The strike is a huge hit to Boeing’s earnings as it receives money for the planes when they are delivered to customers. The striking workers seek an increase in wages that matches the increase in cost of living.
Thus, Boeing’s disatourous year continues. In January, it came under fire after Alaska Airlines had to ground 737 Max 9 planes after the door plug blew off midair. Then in July, Boeing pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to defraud the government after two crashes in 2018 and 2019 killed 346 people. The company also lost millions of dollars due to the issues with Starliner — notably stranding two astronauts on the ISS until Feb. 2025.