SEATTLE, Wash.—After laying off more than 20,000 workers in the Puget Sound region in the last five years, Boeing is 
now trying to bring back retirees as temporary workers. The company signed an agreement with International Association of Machinists District 751 on Oct. 13 allowing it to do that, as long as laid-off workers in the same job classification are rehired first, the temps can keep collecting their pensions while working, and they don’t stay on the job for more than six months. Boeing is expected to hire 500 to 800 retired machinists and engineers to meet plane-production targets and train new workers. “I cannot explain the decisions they make as to why they cut so deep and now they are in a rush to hire people back,” District 751 President Jon Holden told the Seattle Times. “Any time we see people brought back, that’s good news. Any time we see the company open up requirements to hire additional permanent people, that’s good news. But is this the end? Are we past the cutting of jobs? I don’t know. I hope so.”
