Boeing laying off 220 employees in SC By: Jessica Holdman - November 19, 2024 11:28 am
About 220 South Carolina Boeing workers will be out of work after the new year.
The financially struggling aerospace company announced the layoffs, expected to begin Jan. 17.
All but eight of the employees losing their jobs work in North Charleston, where the 787 Dreamliner is assembled. Also being let go is one person each working from Beaufort, Columbia, and Moncks Corner, as well as five employees in Charleston, according to a federally required notice filed with the state employment agency.
“The Boeing Company has made the difficult decision to reduce its workforce,” Elizabeth French, part of Boeing’s exit management team, said in the letter filed Nov. 18 with the S.C. Department of Employment and Workforce.
Boeing reported a financial loss of more than $8 billion so far this year, with $6 billion of that coming between July and September. In response, CEO Kelly Ortberg announced in October the company would cut 10% of its workforce, or about 17,000 employees nationwide.
About 2,200 Boeing employees in Washington state and Oregon also received notices this week that they would be laid of Dec. 20, five days before Christmas.
The layoffs follow a seven-week strike by 33,000 unionized machinists on the West Coast — mostly in Washington but also Oregon and California — as the company and union negotiated a new contract.
Those union members ratified the new deal the first week of November. Ortberg has said the cuts were caused by overstaffing, not the work stoppage.
The strike did not include non-unionized workers in South Carolina.
The Palmetto State job cuts amount to 2.8% of Boeing’s reported 7,864 employees statewide.
The layoffs include business and training staff, engineers, information technology workers, analysts, quality control, and supply chain staff, according to the notice.
Eligible employees will receive severance pay and subsidized health care benefits for up to three months after leaving the company, according to a statement from the company.
Meanwhile, the state’s unemployment rate rose again for the eighth straight month to 4.7% in October, according to the latest numbers from the state Department of Employment and Workforce. The national rate stayed steady at 4.1%.
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