Boeing strike disrupts key operations, threatens $5.5B (CAD 7.5B) losses

Over 30,000 assembly line workers at Boeing in Seattle and Portland, in the western U.S., started a strike at midnight from Thursday to Friday. The workers believe management's wage proposals are insufficient. According to AFP, analysts predict delays in aircraft production and billion-dollar losses for the company.

The union members thus rejected management's proposal, which included, among other things, commitments to keep production in the region and a 25% salary increase over four years. The union argued that the company's concessions were unsatisfactory. One of the IAM members' demands was a 40% pay increase.

The beginning of the strike means stopping work at two Boeing plants in Seattle and Portland. These plants produce the 737, 777, and 767 models, the company's best-selling aircraft, notes AFP. According to analysts from the consulting group TD Cowen, a 50-day strike would mean $5.5 (CAD 7.5) billion in losses for the company.

The strikes come as the company is grappling with significant financial troubles following a series of safety problems related to air accidents. In 2018 and 2019, two plane crashes involving the Boeing 737 Max resulted in 347 casualties.

At the end of July, the American aerospace, defense, and space company Boeing agreed to plead guilty to criminal fraud related to the deadly 737 Max crashes. It also paid a fine of $487.2 (CAD 661.5) million.

The last time Boeing workers went on strike was in 2008. They returned to work after 57 days, AFP recalls.