News - Boeing to furlough tens of thousands of employees

American aircraft manufacturer Boeing will start furloughing tens of thousands of employees in the coming days as it seeks to blunt the effects of a strike involving its largest union, the company said on Wednesday, The New York Times reports. The strike, which began on Friday, has drastically slowed production of commercial airplanes because most of the union’s more than 33,000 members work in manufacturing in the Seattle area. Boeing announced a series of cost-cutting measures this week to stem losses that could reach into the billions of dollars in a prolonged strike. “With production paused across many key programs in the Pacific Northwest, our business faces substantial challenges and it is important that we take difficult steps to preserve cash and ensure that Boeing is able to successfully recover,” the company’s chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, said in a message to employees on Wednesday. Managers planned to meet with workers on Wednesday to review how the temporary furloughs, which Ortberg said would affect “a large number of U.S.-based executives, managers and employees,” would play out. He also said that he and other company leaders would take a pay cut for the rest of the strike, though he did not say by how much. Employees will continue to receive benefits. And, for some, the temporary furloughs will be cycled in, with workers taking one week off every four weeks, on a rolling basis. Boeing announced on Monday that it would freeze hiring, limit travel, and cut spending on a wide range of areas, including parts for planes made in the Seattle area.