Memo: Boeing to cut about 1,000 defense jobs

[July 15, 2009]  SEATTLE (AP) -- The head of Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems division has told employees it will have to eliminate about 1,000 jobs because of Pentagon budget cuts.

In an internal memo Monday, Boeing's Jim Albaugh says the job reductions are needed "to keep ourselves competitive."

Boeing Co. spokesman Dan Beck said Tuesday no further details are available on the cuts. The Seattle Times reports there's been no decision on how many of the cuts will affect the Puget Sound region, which has 7,000 IDS employees.

In January, Boeing CEO Jim McNerney said the company would cut 10,000 jobs companywide this year through attrition and layoffs. Of that total, 4,500 are to come from the Commercial Airplanes unit, most of which is based in the Seattle area. Beck declined to say whether the 1,000 cuts are part of the 10,000.

In the first half of the year, Chicago-based Boeing has shed more than 3,500 jobs across all divisions.

Spokesman Derrell Carter says the defense systems operation has about 70,000 employees companywide. Headquartered in St. Louis, it includes such components as weapons, military aircraft, intelligence and surveillance systems.

[Associated Press]

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