Seattle, June 21: About 860 workers spent their last day on the Boeing payroll, and the company handed out 60-day layoff notices to another 845 employees.
The scheduled job cuts came as Washington and other states submitted bids for the proposed Boeing 7E7 jetliner assembly plant, which would employ an estimated 1,200 workers.
Those leaving the payroll were notified of the layoffs April 18. They include about 630 employees from the Puget sound area.
Most of the new layoff notices were being issued to workers in Boeing's commercial airplanes division, Boeing spokesman Bill Cogswell said. The rest were employees in the company's support division, shared services, and other Boeing businesses, he said.
The effective date for the new layoffs will be Aug 22.
So far, Boeing has cut 33,890 jobs under a payroll reduction plan that started in December 2001. The latest round will bring the company close to its initial target of cutting 35,000 jobs.
"We are nearing the job reduction range we forecast for 2003," Cogswell said. "Additional reductions are possible due to continued weakness in the commercial airlines market, but we have not revised our employment guidance."
Boeing is likely to update its employment outlook sometime next month, Cogswell said. Bureau Report