Machinists prepare for lengthy stoppage

RENTON, Wash. — Cash-strapped Boeing is facing mounting costs from an ongoing machinist strike as workers push for higher pay. A failure to get a deal done could be even more expensive.

In the shadow of a factory outside Seattle where Boeing makes its best-selling planes, picketing Boeing machinists told CNBC they have saved up money and have taken or are considering taking side jobs in landscaping, furniture moving or warehouse work to make ends meet if the strike is goes on much longer.

The work stoppage by Boeing’s factory workers in the Pacific Northwest just entered its second week. The financial cost of the strike on Boeing depends on how long it lasts, though ratings agencies have warned that the company could face a downgrade if it drags on too long.

That would add to the borrowing costs of the company, already $60 billion in debt. Boeing has burned through about $8 billion so far this year in the wake of a near-catastrophic door plug blowout from one of its 737 Max planes in January.

Boeing hasn’t turned an annual profit since 2018, and its new CEO Kelly Ortberg is trying to restore the company’s reputation after months of manufacturing crises that have slowed deliveries to customers, depriving it of cash.

At the local union office in Renton, machinists were preparing for what may become a lengthy strike: Union members carried in large pallets of bottled water, while someone mixed a giant tuna salad in the kitchen to make sandwiches for workers. Union vans visited demonstration sites around Renton offering transportation to bathroom breaks for workers on picket duty. Burn barrels provided heat for chilly overnight pickets.

Many workers spoke of their love for their jobs but fretted about the high cost of living in the Seattle area, where the majority of Boeing’s aircraft are made.

The median home price in Washington state increased about 142% to $613,000 as of 2023, from $253,800 a decade earlier, according to the state’s Office of Financial Management. That outpaces the roughly 55% increase nationally over that period, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.

“We can’t afford [to own] a home,” said Jake Meyer, a Boeing mechanic who said he will start driving for a food delivery service during the strike and is looking at picking up odd jobs such as moving furniture. Meyer said although he’s striking for higher pay from Boeing, he enjoys the job of building airplanes.

“I take pride in my work,” he said.

Another Boeing machinist said he has been saving for months, forgoing things such as restaurants and paying three months of mortgage payments early.

“I can last as long as it takes,” said the worker, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.