Boeing has issued layoff notices to 692 employees in Missouri state, home to the company’s Defense, Space & Security division, according to a notice filed to Missouri’s Office of Workforce Development.
Boeing submitted the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) notice to Missouri’s Office of Workforce Development on November 20, 2024. The layoffs will impact workers in the cities of Berkeley, Hazelwood, Kansas City, Kingsville, Maryland Heights, O’Fallon, St. Charles, St. Louis and St. Ann.
The planemaker has confirmed that 692 employees will be let go in mid-January 2025. The WARN notice states that layoffs will happen on January 7, 2025. Those affected will have access to career transition services and subsidized health care benefits for up to three months.
“As previously announced, we are adjusting our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and a more focused set of priorities,” a Boeing spokesperson said in a statement to FOX 2 News, published on November 20, 2024. “We are committed to ensuring our employees have support during this challenging time.”
According to the US Department of Labor official website, the WARN act requires companies with 100 or more employees to provide at least 60 calendar days advance written notice before a plant closes or if there is a mass layoff of 50 or more employees at one location.
The drastic layoffs began on November 1, 2024, with Boeing reporting that by November 19, 2024, it had laid off 2,199 workers in Washington state and sent termination notices to 400 members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) union.
In the initial layoff plan revealed in October 2024, Boeing stated that it would be issuing 60-day layoff notices to around 17,000 workers, representing about 10% of all Boeing employees.
The job cuts follow several months of ailing for Boeing. In the first quarter of 2024, the planemaker experienced a cash burn of $3.39 billion as it was battling with the consequences of a mid-flight blowout on an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 airliner. In September 2024, Boeing faced a strike involving more than 33,000 workers of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) union. The industrial action ended on November 5, 2024, after 58% of union members voted to approve a new pay deal that will see salaries raised by 38%.