Boeing Workers Go on Strike: Here’s What You Need to Know

Boeing factory workers walked off the job after 12 a.m. on Friday, stopping production of the prominent aerospace manufacturer’s airplanes after they rejected a new contract.
“We strike at midnight,” IAM District 751 President Jon Holden told a news conference on Thursday after delivering the results of the vote, adding that it is an “unfair labor practice strike.”
He alleged that factory workers at Boeing experienced “discriminatory conduct, coercive questioning, unlawful surveillance” and that they had “unlawful promise of benefits.”
Boeing, in a statement earlier this week, said that it extended a “historic contract offer” to IAM amid talks, which the union rejected in Thursday’s vote.
But it’s not clear when such talks could take place.
JPMorgan said Boeing could adjust the pace at which it takes material.
“At a minimum, a prolonged strike could affect supplier growth expectations,” said JPMorgan analyst Seth Seifman.
Boeing workers’ last strike in 2008 shuttered plants for nearly two months and hit revenue by an estimated $100 million per day. According to TD Cowen, a 50-day strike could cost Boeing $3 billion to $3.5 billion of cash flow.
Earlier this year, a door panel on an Alaska Airlines-operated Boeing 737 MAX jet blew off midair and left a large hole in the plane, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to order Boeing to provide a response on how it will deal with quality-control problems that were raised by the agency.