Staff reductions will include executives, managers and employees, says CEO
American multinational plane maker Boeing is letting go of about 17,000 workers – 10% of its global workforce – amid a strike by about 33,000 U.S. West Coast workers, according to a report.
The move is necessary "to align with our financial reality,” said CEO Kelly Ortberg in a message to employees.
"We reset our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and to a more focused set of priorities. Over the coming months, we are planning to reduce the size of our total workforce by roughly 10 per cent. These reductions will include executives, managers and employees," Ortberg's message said, according to a Reuters report.
Boeing has about 2,000 workers in Canada, according to the company.
The strike – which kicked off Sept. 13 – halted production of Boeing ‘s 737 MAX, 767 and 777 jets, and the company’s shares fell 1.1% in after-market trading.
The layoffs could put pressure on employees to end the strike, said Thomas Hayes, equity manager at Great Hill Capital, in the Reuters report posted on CTV News.
"Striking workers who temporarily do not have a paycheck do not want to become unemployed workers who permanently do not have a paycheck," he said in an email, according to the report. "I would estimate the strike will be resolved within a week as these workers do not want to find themselves in the next batch of 17,000 cuts."
On Wednesday last week, the company filed an unfair-labor-practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board, accusing the machinists’ union of failing to bargain in good faith.
Reuters also reported that the strike is costing Boeing US$1 billion a month, citing an S&P estimate.
Mastercard, SkipTheDishes, Cisco, Indeed and Citigroup, among others, have all announced layoffs this year.
