By Bryan Corliss
Herald Writer
The monthly layoff notices at the Boeing Co. are beginning to get routine, but it’s still not something you can take in stride, Everett plant workers said Friday.
The company issued another 1,425 60-day layoff notices to Puget Sound-area employees Friday. Companywide, 2,300 people have received the blue folders that are the equivalent of pink slips since the start of the layoffs, which were triggered by the post-Sept. 11 crisis in the airline industry.
The last day for those people is March 22.
With Friday’s warnings, Boeing has now given layoff notices to almost 19,000 workers in its Commercial Airplanes and Shared Services groups. About 11,600 notices have gone to Puget Sound-area workers.
The total could climb as high as 30,000 by June, company officials have said.
Derek Johnson and Shawn Graham work on 747s at Everett. People in their work group got layoff notices Friday, they said.
"A couple of people today," Johnson said. "Mechanics, plumbers, maintenance."
The notices weren’t a surprise, Graham said. The people who got them knew they were coming.
In fact, the once-a-month layoff warnings are starting to become part of life at Boeing, Johnson said. "This is the third or fourth time, and it’s going to continue for about six months."
But they still leave one feeling "bummed out," he said. "They’ve all got family and stuff, and the economy’s not so hot."
Boeing’s goal is to cut production from 48 to 24 jets a month by midyear, company officials said. But so far, Johnson and Graham said they haven’t seen much change in the pace of production in their area, in part because the co-workers they have lost have been replaced by others who were shifted north from Boeing’s Renton factory after their jobs were eliminated there.
Out of the 19,000 Boeing workers who have received notices, just under 16,000 of them already have been let go. About 9,600 of those were around Puget Sound.
The next round of cuts takes effect next Friday, which will be the last day for 2,900 workers who received layoff notices in November. About 1,000 of those people work locally.
You can call Herald Writer Bryan Corliss at 425-339-3454
or send e-mail to corliss@heraldnet.com.
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