EVERETT, Wash. — Boeing says it will call 2,500 workers back Monday to resume work on the KC46 tanker made in Everett, and the P-8 anti-submarine aircraft for the U.S. and other Navies in Renton.
Workers will also go back to work maintaining the grounded 737 MAX jets in Moses Lake and staff laboratories and other "critical customer needs," according to a statement from Boeing Friday evening.
The employees will be armed with masks and have to follow social distancing guidelines while on the job to help protect from the coronavirus.
Boeing's production was closed down on March 25 after a growing number of coronavirus cases statewide, along with one death attributed to the disease at the company's massive Everett factory.
SPEEA, the second-biggest union representing engineers and technicians at the company, said that workplace safety is a top priority.
“The work on Boeing defense programs is important,” said the union in a statement. “But not as important as the health and safety of ourselves, our co-workers and our families.”
SPEEA said the company has assured them that personal protective equipment, or PPE, will be supplied to employees along with additional distancing guidelines to keep them more than six feet apart.
It’s also asking workers to report any lapse to management and to union representatives in the facilities.
The company said about 30,000 workers who cannot work from home are affected by the production shut down.
While the company is moving to restart some work, President Trump said he will be meeting with airlines and Boeing over the weekend to get billions of dollars in relief money to those companies and their employees.