WICHITA, Kan. – Citing defense budget cuts and delays, the Boeing Co. announced Monday it would restructure its Wichita operations and lay off about 900 workers, or about 25 percent of its current work force at the plant.
The Chicago-based company said its Wichita defense plant will focus on military 747 and wide-body aircraft modifications and upgrades. It also plans to continue its engineering center, focusing its engineering work here on the B-52 Stratofortress and other defense and civil aviation related businesses.
“There has been much speculation about the future of Boeing in Wichita in recent months,” Derek McLuckey, general manager for Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems in Wichita, said in a news release. “Today we are telling our employees that we must right-size our operations for available work performed in Wichita. And we are telling them that we now have to execute a revised business plan in order to ensure our future.”
Boeing said it will issue 60-day layoff notices to 360 workers on Tuesday. An additional 240 employees will lose their jobs by the end of July and 300 more jobs will be cut in mid-November, the company said.
“This is out of the blue, as far as I know,” said Garland “Bear” Moore, business representative for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the largest union at the Wichita plant. “They told us as late as Friday no layoffs were in the works.”
By the beginning of 2007, Boeing’s Wichita defense plant will have about 2,700 workers, the company said.
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