Boeing Plans Engineer layoffs in 2017, WalMart to Lay Off Hundreds Before End of January


01/11/2017



As Boeing Co responds to increasing competition amid slowing aircraft sales, as a part of a cost-cutting drive, the aerospace and defense company warned that it will conduct involuntary layoffs of engineers.
 
Dozens of job categories eligible for voluntary layoffs in Washington state, southern California and South Carolina are also included in the reductions which were disclosed in an internal memo and which was reportedly viewed by various media.
 
The number of reductions that are being planned by the company were however not disclosed by Boeing. Boeing would continue job cuts in 2017, last month vice Chairman Ray Conner and Commercial Airplanes Chief Executive Officer Kevin McAllister said. Last year 10,828 jobs were slashed by the company. the Washington state accounted for about two-thirds of those reductions.
 
"While we have made good progress, more changes are needed to ensure our long-term future," John Hamilton, vice president of engineering at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, wrote in the memo.
 
"We continue to operate in an environment characterized by fewer sales opportunities and tough competition."
 
On Tuesday, Boeing began to defend $8.7 billion of tax breaks in Washington state that was granted to the aerospace industry in 2013 as it teamed up with a new lobbying group and the latest announcement comes amidst such a move. Effort to tying the incentives to Boeing employment is being opposed by the new group.
 
The engineering layoffs are part of a larger reduction at the company's airplane unit.
 
"Once plans are finalized across other functions, that information will be shared with employees," Boeing spokesman Doug Alder said in an email. "Each function will determine its own plan."
 
There would be a number of stages that the engineering reductions will take place. While taking effect from April 21, the voluntary layoff invitations are being sent Jan. 13. With layoffs planned for March 24, notices for involuntary reductions will be sent Jan. 20.
 
Hamilton said in the memo that "driven by our business environment and the amount of voluntary attrition," Boeing plans two more rounds of engineering layoffs later in the year.
 
On the other hand, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation that Wal-Mart Stores Inc plans to cut hundreds of jobs before the end of January. The report states that jobs at its headquarters and regional personnel that support stores is being planned by the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer.
 
Some senior executives believe that the human resources department of the company should be more efficient and whose duties could be handled by outside consultants, and according to the newspaper report, this is the division that many of the eliminations will affect.
 
The report noted that other departments could be affected as well, the report said.
 
"While we continually look at our corporate structure, we have not made any announcements," Wal-Mart spokesman Randy Hargrove said in an email to the newspaper.
 
as part of a program it announced in June, the company said it would cut about 7,000 back-office jobs, mostly in accounting and invoicing positions at its U.S. stores, the company said in September.
 
Efforts, which are a part of efforts to improve service at stores and boost sales, the company plans to invest $2.7 billion in programs that involve training its workforce and a series of wage hikes that took the minimum hourly pay for store workers to $10 and the job cuts followed the company's such plans.
 
 (Source:www.reuters.com)