Global aerospace company Boeing will begin issuing 60-day notices to thousands of workers, including many in its commercial aviation division, a source familiar with the matter said.

The laid-off employees will leave the company in mid-January, a source familiar with the matter said, as the company prepares to send notices to thousands of employees in the coming weeks, with the possibility of a second notice phase in December.

A top U.S. official visited Seattle to try to ease a crippling strike and a major airline issued a warning of deepening unrest at the aircraft maker, industry sources said.

Acting US Labor Secretary Julie Su’s first in-person intervention comes days after Boeing BA N unveiled plans to cut 17,000 jobs and take $5 billion in charges, extending a year of tumult for the company.

Around 33,000 Boeing employees have been on strike since September 13 to demand a 40% pay increase over four years.

A spokesperson for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, which represents Boeing engineers, said the company informed the union Monday that a 60-day notice would be issued to its members on Nov. 15.

A Boeing spokesperson said the company shared information with executives, including plans for 10% reductions in its business unit involving both union and non-union workers.

The spokesperson added that striking IAM employees are not affected at this time.

Brian Bryant, international president of the IAM, called the job-cutting plan “corporate greed at its worst.”

“Boeing has just turned its back on 17,000 of its employees – the same people who carried Boeing through crisis after crisis, year after year,” he said in a statement.

Boeing will refrain from asking for voluntary departures to limit severance packages and avoid a brain drain, sources said, adding that the company would rely solely on involuntary layoffs. Competitors are hoovering up scarce labor to ease pressure on aerospace supply chains.

“The trick will be not to lose the 10% of people you want to keep, which is even more important than usual in the post-pandemic skills shortage environment,” said Nick Cunningham, an analyst at Agency Partners.

Boeing hired staff to prepare for higher production rates that did not materialize as production was capped by regulators following an exploding door plug on an Alaska Airlines plane in January.