Boeing Reaches Deal To End 53-Day Strike
Boeing Reaches Deal To End 53-Day Strike
Jason Sandefur
Boeing and its machinist union have agreed to a tentative deal to end the nearly seven-week old strike that has cost the aerospace giant more than $100 million a day, Reuter”s reports.
If approved by union members, the deal would allow Beoing to reopen its factories in Seattle after a Sept. 6 strike shuttered them. The agreement gives Boeing’s 27,000 assembly workers a 15% pay raise over four years, as well as more power to limit Boeings use of outside contractors. A vote is expected on Saturday.
The news comes amid mounting evidence that the 53-day strike was making strong waves in the aerospace fastener industry.
The strike has already cut the amount of business Precision Castparts Corp. does with Boeing by as much as 60%, American Metal Market reports. That figure is expected to reach 80% within a few weeks.
During the third quarter PCC lost up to $5 million in sales from the strike, which began on September 6. Boeing accounts for about 16% of PCC’s sales.
PCC CEO Mike Donegan had said his company “cut back on overtime and eliminated its pool of temporary workers,” according to AMM. “Like other aerospace suppliers, we are feeling the impact of the Boeing strike, and the longer it lasts the more orders will get pushed out,” Donegan stated.
Other Boeing suppliers have also been hurt by the strike.
“Recent earnings announcements have shown that the strike’s impact is beginning to run deep across the entire aerospace industry,” Dow Jones News Service reports.
Titanium-fastener supplier Allegheny Technologies Inc. recently said it was entering a period of short-term uncertainty as the Boeing strike continues, prompting customers to delay orders.
Titanium Metals Corp. and RTI International Metals Inc., which provides titanium fasteners to Boeing, are scheduled to release Q3 earnings reports in the coming days. Shares of Titanium Metals Corp. have declined nearly 40% since the strike began, while RTI has fallen 58%.
Boeing said the machinists’ strike was responsible for a 38% drop in earnings during the third quarter. �2008 FastenerNews.com
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