By Bryan Corliss
Herald Writer
Layoff notices will go to about 5,500 Puget Sound-area employees of the Boeing Co. next Friday, union sources said.
For many Machinists, the pink slips will only confirm what they already know, following group meetings this week with their supervisors, said Connie Kelleher, a spokeswoman for the International Association of Machinists.
"Nobody’s been told, ‘You’re the one,’ but from what they’re getting in the meetings, they can figure it out," she said. "I don’t know if it helps or hurts you to know."
The layoffs take affect Dec. 14. They are Boeing’s response to the Sept. 11 terror attacks, which inflicted multibillion-dollar loses on the already-faltering airline industry.
So far, there’s been no official word on how many people will be cut from the payroll at Boeing’s Everett and Harbor Pointe facilities. Boeing spokesman Tom Ryan would only confirm that managers are meeting with their teams and that the layoff process "is going forward."
But the unions say they’ve been told that, around the region, some 3,300 to 3,600 Machinists will get the notices, along with 2,000 engineers and technicians represented by the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.
The layoffs will come among parts fabrication workers and those working on the assembly lines in both Everett and Renton.
SPEEA-represented workers are annually evaluated for their retention ranking in case of layoffs, union spokesman Bill Dugovich said. Those in the lowest category tend to be newer hires.
"It’s going to be tough on them," he said.
IAM District 751President Mark Blondin echoed that. "It’s going to be devastating to a lot of working families in this area," he said. "What can you say? You feel a lot of compassion for people who will be losing their paychecks."
Kelleher said the company has rejected IAM’s proposals that it ease the sting of the layoffs by offering early retirement buyouts, bringing back work from subcontractors and allowing workers to take voluntary leaves.
It also set aside SPEEA’s objections to the timing of the layoffs, Dugovich said. "We think it is not right that people be laid off before the holiday season."
The union likely will announce next week a program it hopes will mitigate that, he said. "If Boeing isn’t going to take care of its workers, SPEEA’s going to do whatever it can."
IAM is organizing a job fair for laid-off workers, Kelleher said. "If you’ve got jobs, we’d like them to be for our people."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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