Boeing Co. will be moving information technology jobs to St. Louis from the West Coast, but a company spokesman says the number is still being determined.
The move is part of Boeing's effort to make IT more effective by concentrating workers with similar skills and tools at "centers of excellence" around the country, company spokesman Andrew Favreau said Friday. Besides St. Louis, IT jobs will also move to Charleston, S.C.
Boeing is still assessing which jobs it will move to the two locations, Favreau told the Post-Dispatch. He had no estimate of the total number of jobs involved.
The Seattle Times first revealed the IT job move on Friday when it reported that Boeing has begun to ax engineering jobs at its Commercial Airplanes unit as latest airliner jet programs shift to production from development. The aircraft maker will lay off as many as 700 manufacturing engineers this year in the Seattle area.
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Managers learned Thursday that Boeing aims to reduce the engineering workforce by as many as 1,700 positions by year's end through attrition and layoffs. An internal "talking points" memo for Boeing managers states that further layoffs in other areas of engineering are possible and that it will be "18 or more months" before hiring of engineers resumes.
In an email, Vice President of Engineering Mike Delaney said the reduction was needed because development work was now complete on the 747-8, the 787-9 and the Air Force tanker. Downsizing the workforce as new jet programs transition to more routine production has been a cyclical pattern at Boeing .
Delaney's email cited another factor, too: The layoffs might have been avoided, he said, if Boeing had launched its 787-10 and 777X programs. The787-10 is a larger version of the Dreamliner, while the 777X would be an upgraded version of its popular wide-body jet. At one time, both programs were expected to launch last year. It's now widely anticipated that both will launch later this year.
"I realize this news may be surprising," Delaney wrote. "Commercial Airplanes has been on an upswing for several years. We continue to ramp up production on our major programs, and the prospect for future development work is very positive."
Ray Goforth, executive director of Boeing's white-collar union, the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, or SPEEA, said he was concerned that Boeing was cutting employees at the same time as it was sending engineering work off-shore.
The Seattle Times and Jim Gallagher of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
