Boeing cutting 220 jobs in SC, part of a 10% companywide layoff plan By David Wren 3 hrs ago Financially hobbled Boeing Co. will lay off roughly 220 workers at its South Carolina operations after the holidays, nearly all of them at North Charleston sites that build engine components, cabin parts and the 787 Dreamliner commercial jet.
"The Boeing Company has made the difficult decision to reduce its workforce," Elizabeth French, part of Boeing's exit management team, said in a federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice filed Nov. 18 with the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce.
French said the layoffs are expected to begin Jan. 17. Federal law requires at least a 60-day layoff notification for businesses with 100 or more full-time employees.
The job cuts are among the first of about 17,000 — or 10 percent of the company's global workforce — that Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg has promised as part of a financial overhaul of the company, which recorded a loss of more than $6 billion last quarter.
Reuters reported about 2,200 Boeing employees received layoff notices at the aerospace firm's plants in Washington state and Oregon. The 10 percent job-cut goal will include attrition, such as retirements, resignations and unfilled openings. Future hiring efforts will focus on staffing critical positions.
“As previously announced, we are adjusting our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and a more focused set of priorities," Boeing said in a written statement. "We are committed to ensuring our employees have support during this challenging time.”
The Palmetto State layoffs amount to 2.8 percent of Boeing's 7,864 employees statewide based on the company's latest annual workforce report from late 2023.
The North Charleston sites will see 209 layoffs, according to the notification, with positions eliminated throughout a range of operations including the business and training staffs as well as engineering, information technology and manufacturing.
The cuts include 41 positions identified as part of the quality-control staff.
Boeing has come under fire for production lapses including problems with the Dreamliner's fuselage that shut down deliveries for about 10 months and a door plug that blew out of an Alaska Airlines plane while it was in flight, forcing an emergency landing. Boeing has been in financial trouble since two crashes of its 737 Max jetliner killed 346 passengers and crew members in 2018 and 2019.
Another eight layoffs will take place at Boeing operations in Beaufort, Charleston, Columbia and Moncks Corner. They join three more layoffs that were previously announced.
Eligible employees will receive severance pay, career transition services and subsidized health care benefits for up to 3 months after leaving the company, Boeing said.
The layoff notices are arriving as Boeing looks to restart production of its best-selling 737 Max following a strike by more than 33,000 Boeing union workers on the West Coast. Ortberg has said the layoffs were not caused by the nearly eight-week work stoppage but by overstaffing.
Production of the Dreamliner in North Charleston was not affected by the strike because the South Carolina factories aren't union shops. Boeing has said it is building four wide-body 787s per month with plans to go to five by the end of this year.
| 
