After Gorging on Stock Buybacks for Years, Boeing Announces Mass Layoffs

The manufacturing giant Boeing, under the leadership of new CEO Kelly Ortberg, announced Friday that it will axe roughly 10% of its total workforce in the coming months, a move that drew attention to the company's massive spending on stock buybacks in recent years.

Boeing, which is currently facing a machinist strike, spent an estimated $68 billion on executive-enriching share repurchases and dividends between 2010 and 2019—spending that critics say refutes the company's claim that layoffs and inadequate worker compensation are necessary.

Les Leopold, executive director of the Labor Institute and author of Wall Street's War on Workers: How Mass Layoffs and Greed Are Destroying the Working Class and What to Do about It, told Common Dreams in an email that "Boeing is in trouble because it became a manufacturer of stock buybacks, not just planes."

"The corporate cure is always the same—lay off workers," Leopold added. "Stock buybacks and layoffs are joined at the hip. It's time they were outlawed entirely."

Leopold has urged Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, to campaign on the pledge that "no taxpayer money will go to corporations who lay off taxpayers and conduct stock buybacks." In 2022, Boeing received nearly $15 billion from contracts with the Pentagon.

"CEO Ortberg has an opportunity to do things differently instead of the same old tired labor relations threats used to intimidate and crush anyone that stands up to them."

Ortberg took over as Boeing's CEO in August following the former chief executive's departure—with a $45 million golden parachute—amid fresh safety concerns at the company after a door plug blew out of a Boeing plane mid-flight.

In a memo to employees on Friday, Ortberg—who stands to rake in $22 million in total compensation next year—announced Boeing will delay its new 777X jet and end production of its 767 freighters. Additionally, Ortberg wrote that "we must also reset our workforce levels to align with our financial reality and to a more focused set of priorities"—corporate-speak for mass layoffs.

"These reductions will include executives, managers, and employees," the CEO added. "We know these decisions will cause difficulty for you, your families, and our team, and I sincerely wish we could avoid taking them. However, the state of our business and our future recovery require tough actions."

The job cuts are expected to impact around 17,000 workers.

Ortberg's announcement came days after Boeing suspended contract negotiations with striking machinists, disparaging the union's demands as "far in excess of what can be accepted if we are to remain competitive as a business."

"The same company spent $68 billion on dividends and stock buybacks over the past decade and gave its last two CEOs multimillion-dollar golden parachutes," former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote in response. "What's unreasonable is Boeing's greed."

Jon Holden, president of District 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers—which represents Boeing workers who went on strike a month ago—said in a statement Friday that the company's management "keeps walking away from the table" and "using the same old tired tactics of bargaining in the press."

"The path to resolve this strike begins at the bargaining table," said Holden. "An unwillingness to stay at the table only prolongs the strike. CEO Ortberg has an opportunity to do things differently instead of the same old tired labor relations threats used to intimidate and crush anyone that stands up to them."

"Our membership is too powerful for that and is standing on principles," Holden added. "Ultimately, it will be our membership that determines whether any negotiated contract offer is accepted. They want a resolution that is negotiated and addresses their needs. Get back to the bargaining table."