Boeing Cuts: Big Loss for Seattle, Smaller Gains for OKC, St. Louis

Reacting to continued U.S. defense spending cuts, Boeing (IW 500/13) announced last night it plans to shift 1,400 jobs from its commercial hub in the Seattle area to Oklahoma City and St. Louis—and to eliminate 600 additional jobs.

Do the math: That's a 2,000-job hit that Boeing's Seattle-area operations will take over the next three years.

Here is Bloomberg's report on Boeing's announcement; here is the Wall Street Journal's; and here is the Seattle Times'.

According to the above-linked Seattle Times report:

"Some workers with critical skills will be offered relocation to Oklahoma City, Okla., and St. Louis, Mo. Others may find local jobs at Boeing's commercial jet unit. The number of layoffs won't be known until Boeing finds out how many people relocate, transfer or choose to leave.

"The jet maker currently employs a total of about 5,200 people in defense work in the region, so the moves will cut deeply into that total."

The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace released a statement denouncing Boeing's "snub," acerbically calling it the company's "latest 'Thank You' for Washington's $8.7 billion tax break."

"The silence from Olympia is deafening," said Ray Goforth, SPEEA's executive director. "Why are Washington taxpayers subsidizing Boeing to move thousands of jobs out of state? Every state except Washington that offered Boeing tax breaks for the 777X program tied jobs to the legislation. Now, we have taxpayers subsidizing the movement of good engineering, technical and machinist jobs out of our state."