Boeing is freezing recruitment and drawing up plans to furlough “many” employees as the aerospace giant scrambles to curb spending after tens of thousands of its workers went out on strike.
Warning that the industrial action “jeopardizes our recovery in a significant way”, the US planemaker said it would pause most employee travel and suspend non-essential capital expenditures.
About 33,000 Boeing workers walked off the job early on Friday after voting overwhelmingly to strike for higher pay. The company’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg had pleaded with workers not to go on strike – the first since 2008 – before the vote.
Brian West, chief financial officer, said in a memo to staff that Boeing is now “considering the difficult step of temporary furloughs for many employees, managers and executives” over the coming weeks.
“Our business is in a difficult period,” West said. “This strike jeopardizes our recovery in a significant way and we must take necessary actions to preserve cash and safeguard our shared future.”
The actions Boeing is taking, and considering, “will create some uncertainty and concern”, West acknowledged. Shares in the company fell 1.3% on Monday morning in New York.
In last week’s vote, some 95% of participating workers rejected a tentative agreement reached between their union and the company which included a 25% pay increase over four years; and 96% supported a strike.
The action will halt production of Boeing’s 737 Max, its bestselling jet, as the company grapples with output delays and mounting debt.
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It comes amid a dire year for the company. January’s cabin panel blowout during a flight of a brand new Max jet sparked a fresh crisis surrounding the safety and quality of its planes.
The high-profile mission of its Starliner spacecraft, which landed back on earth this month without the two astronauts it carried to the International Space Station, has also raised questions about Boeing’s troubled space business.