Boeing layoffs so far total nearly 2,200 workers in Washington state

SEATTLE (AP) — Boeing said in a notice filed with Washington's Employment Security Department on Monday that it has so far laid off 2,199 workers in the state, among job cuts that will eventually total about 17,000 across the company.

The aerospace giant 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, from Washington to Missouri to Arizona to 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 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, or SPEEA. The workers will remain on the payroll through mid-January.

Boeing’s unionized machinists began returning to work earlier this month following the strike.

The strike strained Boeing’s finances. But CEO Kelly Ortberg said on an October call with analysts that it did not cause the layoffs, which he described as a result of overstaffing.

Boeing, based in Arlington, Virginia, 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 production of the 737 MAX at 38 planes per month, a threshold Boeing had yet to reach when the machinists' strike halted assembly lines.

FILE - Boeing employees work on the 737 MAX on the final assembly line at Boeing's Renton plant, June 15, 2022, in Renton, Wash. (Ellen M. Banner/The Seattle Times via AP, Pool, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is requesting nearly $100 billion in emergency disaster aid after Hurricanes Helene and Milton, and other natural disasters.

In a letter Monday to House Speaker Mike Johnson, Biden said he has met firsthand with those harmed by the storms and heard what they need from the federal government. "Additional resources are critical to continue to support these communities,” Biden said.

The largest share of the money, about $40 billion, would go to the main disaster relief fund at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. An additional $24 billion would help farmers and $12 billion would go toward community development block grants administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Johnson, R-La., said Congress will evaluate the request and "we’ll make sure we deliver for the hurricane victims and the people that have suffered from that.”

FILE - With President Joe Biden aboard, Marine One surveys areas affected by Hurricane Milton in Florida, from Tampa to St. Petersburg, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks following a briefing by federal, state, and local officials in St. Pete Beach, Fla., during a tour of areas affected by Hurricane Milton, Oct. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

FILE - President Joe Biden, right, shakes hands with Buck Paulk, property manager of Shiloh Pecan Farm, after he spoke at the farm in Ray City, Ga., Oct. 3, 2024, as part of his trip to see areas impacted by Hurricane Helene. Looking on at right is Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

FILE - President Joe Biden, right, greets people in Keaton Beach, Fla., Oct. 3, 2024, during his tour of areas impacted by Hurricane Helene. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)