As Wichita layoffs begin, it’s time to get serious about what comes next

Wichita’s bleak midwinter just got a lot colder, as Spirit AeroSystems began laying off workers, and a global logistics company near the Spirit campus announced plans to lay off 255 more.

The job losses are a predictable but sobering effect of an indefinite production halt on the Boeing 737 Max — and unfortunately, it’s only the beginning.

Workers getting pink slips this week need real help, not lip service, and it’s time for leaders to get serious about what comes next.

Pete Meitzner, chairman of the Sedgwick County Commission, said in a news conference recently that problems with the 737 Max are “not our fault,” and that he expects a long-term recovery “will be right around the corner.”

Wichita Mayor Brandon Whipple said we’re “in this together,” and that the plan is “to make sure that we face these troubles side by side.”

Local economist Jeremy Hill is still “optimistic about Spirit’s longer-term forecast.” Keith Lawing, president and CEO of the Workforce Alliance of South Central Kansas, says there’s “light at the end of the tunnel.”

Comforting words. The challenge now is translating those words to action for thousands of Wichita workers who now worry about how they will find jobs, access health care and pay their bills.

A new website for laid-off aviation workers is a start. The website — https://www.aircapitaloftheworld.com/commitment — offers a one-stop clearinghouse of information aimed at answering workers’ questions about finding a job, getting unemployment, signing up for health insurance or starting a business.

“Like anything, it’s bite-bite-bite. What do they need to do first, and then what’s the next step?” said Vera Bothner, whose firm, Bothner and Bradley Inc., is working with the Greater Wichita Partnership to help coordinate efforts.

“Streamlining information is the most important thing, because it’s overwhelming.”

The Workforce Alliance has compiled packets for every laid-off worker with details about local, state and federal resources, Bothner said. Next week, the group plans to hold briefing sessions at Century II where people can get more information. And several job fairs are in the works.

The state’s unemployment insurance trust fund has about $990 million available to pay out to displaced workers, which is good news amid the misery. Gov. Laura Kelly said she plans to speed up the process for laid-off workers to access aid, and local officials with the International Association of Machinists said Thursday that they appreciate that effort.

United Way of the Plains also announced plans to help, collecting donations for its Laid-Off Workers Fund. As it did during previous rounds of layoffs and other economic downturns, United Way will coordinate social services through its 2-1-1 help line.

Leaders and workers understandably are frustrated — most notably by Boeing, which may have concealed problems with the 737 Max from federal regulators.

As former Congressman Dan Glickman noted in a recent column for The Eagle, the 737 Max fiasco shows that our zeal to deregulate has gone too far. We should acknowledge that regulations on the commercial airline industry are necessary to ensure public safety and save lives, and we shouldn’t rush the Max back into the air.

But this week in Wichita, all eyes turn to South Oliver, where thousands of Spirit employees will lose their jobs, walk out of the plant and wonder what happens next.

We can’t wait months or weeks or even days to get them back into the workforce. Go time is now.