Plane-maker Boeing is reportedly gearing up to cut as many as 8 000 jobs as part of its plan to keep pace with its main rival.
|||London - Boeing, the airplane manufacturing giant, is reportedly gearing up to cut as many as 8 000 jobs as part of its plan to keep pace with its main rival, Airbus.
The American company confirmed it is planning to lay off 4 000 workers working in its commercial airlines arm, but a report in The Seattle Times suggested it was willing to lose 10 percent of its staff in other divisions in its home state of Washington, doubling the total job losses.
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Half the group's 160 000 workers are employed in Washington state.
The jumbo-jet maker said the cuts will also affect executives and managers, but insisted staff would not be laid off involuntarily. “We continue to follow our plan announced last month to make fundamental changes for the long term to win in the market, fund our growth and operate as a healthy business,” a spokesman for the company said.
“That involves a combination of non-labour cost savings, supply chain savings and reduced staffing levels. While there is no employment reduction target, the more we can control costs as a whole, the less impact there will be to employment.”
The spokesman added: “Staffing reductions through mid-year, including hundreds of executives and managers, are projected to total approximately 4 000 positions - none of which involve involuntary layoffs.
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“We've been able to reduce staffing levels through attrition, leaving open positions unfilled, and voluntary layoffs. We'll only use involuntary layoffs as a last resort.”
Last month, Ray Conner, the chief executive, revealed the company was looking at slashing jobs to make cost-savings so that it could afford to cut the costs of its aircraft.
He claimed customers were increasingly opting for planes made by France's Airbus, which is undercutting Boeing on price.
Earlier this year, Boeing unveiled plans to slash production of its famous 747 jet in half, to just six planes a year, taking a $569m (£395m) after-tax charge on the back of a slowdown in demand for cargo jets.
Boeing built more planes than arch-rival Airbus last year. However, in January, the French-owned company claimed to have eclipsed its American competitor in terms of future sales, with an order book worth more than $1trn.
THE INDEPENDENT
