Boeing Co. on Thursday announced layoffs affecting fewer than 200 workers at its 787 Dreamliner campus and other operations in North Charleston, the first involuntary separations at the facilities since the aerospace giant moved to South Carolina in 2009.
The job cuts are part of a company-wide effort to reduce costs in Boeing's commercial airplane division to better compete with France-based rival Airbus. While thousands of Boeing workers in Washington state have lost their jobs since the cost-cutting program was announced in December, the layoffs had not impacted North Charleston employees until now.
"We are all aware of the need to be more competitive in a relentlessly challenging industry," Joan Robinson-Berry, vice president and general manager of Boeing South Carolina, told employees in a memo Thursday morning. "Our competitors do not rest in their drive to win sales campaigns and neither can we. ... While we understand the business need, it doesn't make this action any easier."
Boeing would not provide a specific number of layoffs, with the memo stating only that it will be "fewer than 200."