Boeing Announces Compensation Plan for Furloughed Employees and Proceeds with Job Cuts

Kelly Ortberg, the CEO of Boeing declared last week that the company would compensate workers who were dismissed from their jobs during the strike for the money they lost. The CEO did however state that the firm will proceed with its plans to cut its global staff by almost 10%.

Ortberg announced on Thursday that the company would pay back workers who were placed on furlough during the seven-week strike for the earnings they missed during that time. Notably, following the start of the strike in September the factory fired thousands of workers on a daily basis.

33,000 union machine workers participated in the walkout which had an effect on the manufacturer’s manufacturing of well-known aircraft like the 737 MAX. Notably, the firm announced plans to cut 17,000 jobs and then canceled the unpaid vacation after initially laying off a number of workers.

The media agency cited an email shared by Ortberg to staff and said, “Your sacrifice made a difference and helped the company bridge to this moment. We want to acknowledge your support by returning your lost pay if you went on unpaid furlough.”

Notifying the employees of the modifications, the executive stated, “We will continue forward with our previously announced actions to reduce our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and a more focused and streamlined set of priorities. These structural changes are important to our competitiveness and will help us deliver more value to our customers over the long term.”

Due to a quality issue resulting from a mid-air panel caught in January, the aircraft manufacturer has suffered losses of around $8 billion this year. Ortberg wrote,”We have hard work ahead to restore our company and deliver on our customer commitments but we are on the right path and making the right changes.” 

As it reduces its worker force to concentrate on its core defense and civil aircraft manufacturing divisions, the business may end up selling some assets.