In a letter to Boeing employees, CEO David Calhoun announced the measures the company will take to reduce their workforce in an effort to meet the current demand. The voluntary layoff program has been concluded and the company says they will notify the first of 6,770 U. S. employees of their (involuntary) layoff.
The announcement says severance pay, COBRA health care coverage for U.S. employees and career transition services will be provided to those who are laid off. International locations will also experience workforce reductions using “timelines in accordance with local laws and benefit terms.”
“We have done our very best to project the needs of our commercial airline customers over the next several years as they begin their path to recovery,” Calhoun said in the letter. “I wish there were some other way.”
Calhoun said, “enormous challenges remain” and the company will adjust their business ;plans constantly until the pandemic stops “whipsawing our markets in ways that are still hard to predict.” He stressed that through it all, “The safety of our products and services will remain priority No. 1.” He added that Boeing’s defense business will continue to hire as needed to meet their commitments. “And our Global Services team is changing its organization to ensure it is lean and focused on the post-COVID needs of its customers,” Calhoun said. The company is working to restart 737 MAX production in Renton, Wash. as well.
“Our industry will come back, but it will take some years to return to what it was just two months ago,” Calhoun said.