Numerous workers at Skills Inc., a manufacturing company in Auburn, Washington, that builds parts for the Boeing 737 Max, have been laid off or furloughed, or had their hours cut.

Skills Inc. is a nonprofit that offers training and jobs for people with disabilities — it says about 60% of its staff of 600 have a self-identified disability.

Business Insider spoke with employees and reviewed communications from the company. Workers said the cuts were a direct result of Boeing suspending production of the troubled 737 Max.

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Numerous employees at Skills Inc., a Boeing supplier in Auburn, Washington, have been laid off or furloughed, or had their hours cut, current and former employees told Business Insider. It's the latest in the fallout from Boeing's decision to suspend production of the troubled 737 Max airplane.

Skills, an aerospace manufacturer and supplier, is among about 600 companies that build components for the Boeing 737 Max. Unlike similar companies, however, Skills is a nonprofit.

The company describes itself as a "business with a social mission" and a "self-supporting, nonprofit social enterprise" that offers training and employment for people with disabilities.

According to Skills' website, about 60% of its 600 employees have a self-identified disability. The company says it has "a fully integrated work environment where individuals with and without disabilities work side-by-side throughout our four lines of business."

In a termination letter sent to some affected employees and seen by Business Insider, Skills Inc. CEO Todd Dunnington said the company's staffing imbalance, caused by "reduced production rates at our largest customer," was initially expected to be short-term but is now "forecasted to last for an unknown amount of time."

Several employees confirmed to Business Insider that they had been told the layoffs were due to reduced demand by Boeing.

The recent layoffs and work reductions followed reductions in 2019 due to reduced 737 Max production, a current employee, who asked to remain nameless, told Business Insider.

Workers at the company were blindsided and left scrambling — but while they were unhappy about the situation, most of the employees Business Insider spoke with had only positive things to say about Skills.

"I simply hope to hear from my Skills supervisor before my savings and food run out," one employee who was laid off told Business Insider. "I am more fortunate than many in that I have family and friends in Seattle who will make sure I do not end up homeless." The employee, who has a chronic illness affecting their vision, dexterity, and cognitive and memory abilities, asked to not be named in this story.

"I'm so sad," another employee, who was near retirement age and was laid off, told Business Insider. "I wasn't ready to be put out to pasture."

Representatives at Skills Inc. did not reply to repeated requests for comment and attempts to connect. Boeing did not respond to a request for comment.

The total number of affected employees was not immediately clear.

Boeing's 737 Max crisis is rippling through the US labor market

Boeing announced in December that it would temporarily suspend 737 Max assembly and acceptance of supplier components starting this month. The 737 Max has been grounded worldwide since the March 2019 crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, the second fatal crash within five months. A total of 346 people were killed in the two crashes of the jet, the latest model of Boeing's workhorse 737 narrow-body.

In April, Boeing reduced production of the Max to 42 units a month from 52, but it had otherwise maintained production throughout the grounding. However, it has been unable to deliver planes to customers during the grounding, leading to a pileup of about 400 completed planes at its facilities, stretching its storage capabilities.

While announcing the production suspension, Boeing said it had no plans to lay off or furlough any of the 12,000 employees at the facility that assembles the 737 Max, instead temporarily reassigning workers to other tasks or teams.

However, Boeing has about 600 suppliers that build components or provide services related to the Max, some of which earn a substantial portion of their revenue from Boeing contracts related to the plane. Boeing says it's the largest manufacturing exporter in the US, which, coupled with the number of suppliers it buys from, can lead to an outsize effect on workforces around the country — Boeing has just over 150,000 employees across its commercial, defense, and global services divisions, but the actual number of engineering and manufacturing employees touched by the plane is far greater.

Earlier this month, Spirit AeroSystems, which builds fuselages for the plane, announced it would lay off 2,800 workers at its factory in Wichita, Kansas, because of the 737 Max production halt, with smaller cuts planned at its facilities in Tulsa and McAlester, Oklahoma. Spirit said that building components for the 737 Max accounted for about 50% of its annual revenue. An employee told Business Insider that layoffs would begin to take effect this week.

General Electric, which builds power plants for the 737 Max and other planes, laid off 70 temporary employees at a factory in Quebec, but GE's aerospace-engines division has a far more robust client base than some other suppliers.

Boeing takes delivery of components and finishes assembling the planes at its factory in Renton, Washington.

Boeing has been scrambling to complete a fix for the 737 Max and get the plane recertified by the Federal Aviation Administration. However, the plane maker has suffered numerous setbacks and doesn't have a timeline for returning the plane to service.

Do you work for a Boeing supplier or an airline affected by the 737 Max grounding? Email this reporter at dslotnick@businessinsider.com.