In a memo sent Wednesday to employees, Boeing executive Jeff Turner assured employees the layoff notices are part of the separation and re-employment process required as the Chicago-based aerospace leader transfers assets to Toronto-based Onex.
''Receiving a WARN notice is not reason to panic or to assume at this time that you have or don't have employment with Onex,'' said Turner, who is also leaving Boeing for Onex.
Onex agreed last month to buy Boeing's massive commercial aircraft plant in Wichita, plus other work sites in Tulsa and McAlester, Okla., for $900 million cash and the assumption of $300 million debt. The sale is part of Boeing's strategy to focus its commercial aircraft business on design and final assembly.
Despite Turner's assurances, the notices alarmed union leader Bob Brewer, the Midwest director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace. He said it is still uncertain how many laid-off Boeing workers Onex will hire.
''It says not to panic, but then it does not tell you whether or not they have employment into the future,'' Brewer said. ''That is what is pressing.''
Onex plans to create from the Boeing assets a new aircraft company, to be led by Turner as chief executive. He told employees the notices will begin with him and will cover all three Boeing plants involved in the sale.
Workers interested in joining the new company will also be asked to sign a waiver allowing Boeing to release personnel information to Onex.
The majority of the affected workers are longtime Boeing employees who have never before lost their jobs despite downturns in the aviation industry, Brewer said.
''It is concerning,'' Brewer said. ''There are going to be several thousand employees issued a warn notice on Friday, and this is something that has never happened to them and their families in their entire career.''
It is still uncertain exactly how many workers will get notices Friday, said Boeing spokesman Dick Ziegler.
Boeing had about 7,300 people working in its commercial airplane group in Wichita as of Friday, Ziegler said. That number, however, included some contract workers. As many as 1,300 people are employed at Boeing's two smaller facilities in Oklahoma.
Boeing also has about 1,700 employees in its shared services group in Wichita whose duties cover both defense and commercial aircraft work. It is still uncertain how many of those will remain Boeing employees, Ziegler said.
Boeing's defense operations in Wichita, which employ 3,200 people, were not included in the sale to Onex.
Ziegler said he does not know whether he will get a layoff notice, adding he was a ''little concerned'' but would love to work for the new company.
''This is an exciting prospect -- to build a business from the ground up,'' he said. ''It is not something everyone can do in their lives.''
Onex is working with Boeing's unions, and the process for staffing the new company with both union and nonunion employees is being developed, according to the memo.
Brewer said Onex has not yet begun negotiations with his union, instead negotiating first with its largest union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
