Boeing and its largest union are expected to restart contract negotiations on Tuesday with the help of federal mediators, days after thousands of workers rejected a previous offer and went on strike.
The walkout, which began on Friday, has already drastically slowed the company’s production of commercial airplanes because most of the union’s more than 33,000 members work in manufacturing in the Seattle area. The company makes several airplanes, including the 737 Max, its most popular, in two factories outside the city. If the strike lasts for several weeks, analysts estimate that Boeing, which was already in a financially precarious position before the stoppage began, could lose billions of dollars.
Workers last week overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract that Boeing and union officials had negotiated, saying that it fell well short of what the union had initially sought on raises, retirement benefits and other issues. But in a message to employees on Monday, Boeing’s chief financial officer, Brian West, said that the company was “working in good faith” on a new deal that reflected worker feedback and allowed the company to return to normal operations.
Tuesday’s meeting will take place in Seattle, where small teams of leaders from Boeing and the union will convene with representatives from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, a government agency that helps to resolve labor disputes.
The agency’s role in such mediations is narrow. It does not make decisions on the content or outcome of talks, but aims to help the parties find an agreeable resolution, Javier Ramirez, the agency’s deputy director of field operations, said in an interview on Monday.
“We focus more on the process and helping the parties explore the art of the possible,” said Mr. Ramirez, who is in charge of the agency’s 130 mediators.
He and two colleagues, Beth Schindler and Myla Hite, will take part in the talks between Boeing and the union on Tuesday. How the talks will unfold is difficult to predict, Mr. Ramirez said, because mediations are often fluid.
“We look at demeanor, the preparedness, the willingness, there’s so many things that factor into how we operate that we just have to constantly be reading the room, and that’s where that art comes in,” he said.
Union leaders on Saturday encouraged their members to speak out: “Now is the moment to rise. Show Boeing that our voices aren’t just loud; they are unstoppable,” the negotiating committee said in a message, encouraging members to make sure that picket lines are active around the clock.
In a message before the vote, union leaders had supported the now-rejected deal, calling it “the best contract we’ve negotiated in our history.” The talks that led to that proposal were informed by surveys of, suggestions from and meetings with members. On Sunday, the union said it had shared a new survey to gather the top priorities of its members as negotiations restart.
For Boeing, the consequences of the walkout will depend on its length.
The union’s last strike, in 2008, lasted nearly two months. Boeing said in securities filings at the time that it had delivered 104 fewer planes than expected that year because of the strike. The company said the strike had resulted in a $6.4 billion decline in revenue that year.
Boeing has since moved some commercial plane production — final assembly of its 787 Dreamliner — to a nonunion plant in North Charleston, S.C. If the current strike lasts as long as the previous one, it could still cost Boeing at least $3 billion, according to an estimate from Cai von Rumohr, a research analyst at the investment bank TD Cowen.
In his message on Monday, Mr. West, the chief financial officer, said that Boeing would implement a series of cost-cutting measures to blunt the effect of the strike. That included freezing hiring and nonessential travel and limiting spending on consultants, advertising, marketing and charitable giving. The company is also considering temporary furloughs and planning “significant” cuts on the money it spends on parts from suppliers, he said.
Most of the workers covered by the talks are represented by District 751 of the machinists’ union in Seattle. A small number work at a parts plant in Portland, Ore., and are represented by District W24 of the union.
Boeing employs more than 66,000 people in Washington State, according to a recent report from the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. The company supports more than twice as many jobs when considering the indirect effect it has on car dealerships, restaurants, coffee shops and other businesses, many of which run occasional promotions targeted at Boeing employees.
When negotiations began in March, workers were resentful of the loss of pension benefits a decade ago, which the union had sought to reinstate, and the decision to move the assembly of the 787 from Seattle to South Carolina. At the time, the union said it was seeking a 40 percent raise.
The offer that the workers rejected last week included a 25 percent raise, an increase in 401(k) contributions from Boeing and a commitment to build the company’s next commercial plane in the Seattle area.
The strike is the first big public test for Kelly Ortberg, who became chief executive of Boeing last month, inheriting a company in crisis.
Boeing’s deliveries of the 737 Max were rising last year after the pandemic disrupted the company’s operations and supply chain. But that recovery was derailed when a panel blew off one of the jets during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. There were no serious injuries from that episode, but it renewed concerns about Boeing’s commitment to quality and safety five years after two fatal crashes involving the 737 Max.
The Federal Aviation Administration limited production of the Max, exacerbating the delays that have frustrated airlines and other customers. It also required Boeing to create a plan to improve its production quality. Boeing has said it has already made many changes, including increasing quality inspections and training of new hires, and simplifying plans and procedures. The company also hired Mr. Ortberg, an aerospace industry veteran.
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