Boeing to lay off over 200 plant workers as part of massive cost-cutting drive

Boeing will lay off more than 200 workers based in South Carolina as part of a massive cost-cutting drive that will slash 17,000 employees — or 10% of its workforce.The aerospace giant last week notified 220 employees who assemble the 787 Dreamliner aircraft at a Charleston-based facility that they would be let go, according to WCBD-TV.On Monday, Boeing said in a notice filed with the Employment Security Department in Washington that it has so far laid off 2,199 workers in that state.Boeing, whose stock is down more than 42% since the start of the year, announced in October that it planned to cut about 10% of its workforce in the coming months as it struggles to recover from financial and regulatory troubles as well as a strike by its machinists that lasted nearly two months.The planned cuts include workers at Boeing facilities across the country, including Washington, Missouri, Arizona and South Carolina, the Seattle Times reported.They also appeared to impact workers in all three of Boeing’s divisions: commercial airplanes, defense and global services.Before the layoff notices were delivered last week, Boeing had 66,000 workers in Washington.Among the layoffs so far are notices that went out last week to more than 400 members of Boeing’s professional aerospace labor union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.The workers will remain on the payroll through mid-January.Boeing’s unionized machinists began returning to work earlier this month following the strike.New Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg said on an October call with analysts that the layoffs were the result of overstaffing.Boeing, based in Arlington, Va., has been in financial trouble since two crashes of its 737 MAX jetliner killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019.The company’s fortunes and reputation took a further hit when a panel blew off the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines plane in January.Production rates slowed to a crawl, and the Federal Aviation Administration capped producti...