Boeing issues 300 layoff notices

Boeing today issued about 300 layoff notices companywide.

About 120 of those went to employees in the Puget Sound region, about 100 of them in the Commercial Airplanes division.

Boeing has announced layoffs each month since January, when chief executive Jim McNerney said Boeing would cut 10,000 jobs companywide this year through attrition and layoffs. Of that total, 4,500 will come from the Commercial Airplanes unit. The impact in Washington is expected to exceed 5,000 job cuts.

As of March 31, Boeing had cut about 800 jobs in the state this year and also left unfilled a further 1,000 positions.

Not all those who get the layoff notices will end up losing their jobs. Some may be saved as other employees retire, and some may find new positions within the company.

Of 190 facilities workers who got layoff notices in January, only 62 actually were cut when the effective date arrived on March 20.

And while today's wave of notices included 62 that went to Machinist union members, 16 of those were repeat notices given to people who had already received one. The new notice effectively extended their employment by one more month than they had expected.

The next wave of actual layoffs comes next Friday, which is the designated layoff date for almost 800 local employees who received notices in February.

Again though, the number laid off is likely to be much lower than 800.

Of that total, 466 were Machinist union members. But when the follow-up notices went out last week to flag the "two-weeks-to-layoff" marker, only 243 Machinists received them.