It's been over a month since Boeing machinists went out on strike.

Ah, they say timing is everything, and I guess there's no time better than when your company is on its knees, and a good part of the reason is *checks notes* it's gotten a reputation for shoddy manufacturing practices.

By the way...who does the manufacturing at Boeing - the riveting, attaching panels, running wires, doors - or not - that sort of thing?

Why, I would have thought Boeing workers, but I guess they just don't see it that way, because they have demands.

And they're not coming back until Boeing does something about it.

...Boeing Machinists across the US West Coast stopped work at midnight on Friday. Hundreds of workers occupied picket lines at the Renton factory outside of Seattle that makes Boeing’s top-selling aircraft, the 737 Max...

The company was already in serious trouble before disgruntled workers decided to take a hike, and the immediate consequences of their doing so were not pretty. 

Bloomberg called it a "doom loop," and Boeing's new CEO Kelly Ortberg had his hands full trying to steady the sinking ship.

...Now the planemaker is making another dramatic move by cutting 10% of its workforce, equivalent to about 17,000 people. But it’s a maneuver fraught with risk, given that Boeing is in the middle of testy labor negotiations and unions show no sign of giving in. Also left unanswered were details on where the cuts will occur, what they might cost in terms of severance — and if indeed the step is enough to stem the financial bleeding.

“It’s all getting a bit hand to mouth,” said Nick Cunningham, an analyst at Agency Partners LLP in London. “It is not a coherent plan as such, it is just another quarter of large charges, all of a kind the previous management would have had to make anyway, as they reflect existing and developing problems and are not part of a restructuring as such.”

Boeing’s shares fell 2.5% as of 9:33 a.m. in New York on Monday, the first trading session since the cuts were announced. The stock had declined 42% this year through Friday’s close, the second-worst performer in the Dow Jones Industrial Average behind Intel Corp.

...The comments suggest that Boeing under Ortberg may double down on the field for which it is best known: Commercial aviation. The unceremonious departure of Ted Colbert as head of the defense and space business put those subsidiary’s shortcomings into sharp relief — made more glaring still on Friday when Boeing said the unit would have about $2 billion in charges in the third quarter.

The predicted $2B in charges became almost $6B.

They were also enough to get an apathetic, lazy, and frankly pathetic Biden-HARRIS administration Department of Labor off their tookusses and involved in trying to mitigate the crippling effects of the union job action for the very first time. Labor Secretary Su could only be roused to movement when the numbers began to look catastrophic if something positive didn't happen.

So nice she could find time to bother.

...Acting U.S. Labor Secretary Julie Su's first in-person intervention comes days after Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab unveiled plans to cut 17,000 jobs and take $5 billion in charges, continuing a year of tumult for the company.

"Acting Secretary Su is meeting with both parties today to assess the situation and encourage both parties to move forward in the bargaining process," a Department of Labor spokesperson said on Monday.

While Su has previously spoken with Boeing and the striking West Coast factory workers' union, it is her first time in Seattle meeting both sides in person.

The machinists, in the meantime, were busy marching up and down their picket lines, having turned down what to anyone else looked like a pretty decent initial deal and a subsequent 30% raise follow-on offerl as the company foundered away.

Things must’ve been pretty bad at Boeing for employees to reject this..

You would’ve had me at 25%. pic.twitter.com/R1ArWhxv1Q

— HTown jfp (@jfptalkin) September 13, 2024

As Boeing's company losses deepened, management came back with a repackaged 35% offer that got the union leadership's attention. The two sides struck a tentative agreement, subject to membership voting for approval.

Boeing reports a $6B loss as striking workers vote on whether to approve a new contract. pic.twitter.com/5SAEcFJxcp

— Grady Trimble (@Grady_Trimble) October 23, 2024

As sweet as the new offer was going up for a vote, there was still one major sticking point that could prove to be the real hurdle.

...The union said the Boeing offer would increase pay by 35% over four years, up from 30% that the company offered last month. It also boosts the ratification bonus to $7,000 per worker instead of $6,000.

The new offer would not restore a traditional pension plan — a key demand of the 33,000 striking workers — but it would increase the amount of contributions to 401(k) retirement plans that Boeing would match. It would also retain performance bonuses that Boeing wanted to eliminate and make them at least 4% of pay, the union said.

If approved, they could be going back to work as soon as Friday.

If rejected, more missed paychecks, and some tell me they’ll immediately look for temp jobs. It would also mean Boeing continues to lose an est. $100M a day.

Boeing’s Q3 numbers put out today show a $6B loss.

— Sam Campbell (@HeySamCampbell) October 23, 2024

They finished counting the votes last night, and no one is going back to work any time soon.

REJECTED

Boeing factory workers have rejected the company’s latest contract offer and will keep striking. The company offer included pay raises of 35% over four years. pic.twitter.com/1wERxHuxiy

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) October 24, 2024

How long can Boeing hang on while bleeding cash numbers of this magnitude?

...S&P Global Ratings recently noted that the strike costs Boeing about $1 billion a month. The failed vote extends the five-week strike that has halted commercial jet production across Seattle. 

Also on Wednesday, Boeing reported a third-quarter net loss of $6.17 billion, bringing total losses in 2024 to a stunning $8 billion. Earlier this month, Boeing announced plans to shed its workforce by 10%, or about 17,000 jobs. It also disclosed in a filing about plans to raise $25 billion by selling debt or stock over the next three years.

WOOF

Remains to be seen.

The new CEO is trying, but there is a lot of bad blood and, frankly, bad practices on all sides that have to be reconciled in some way before - and if - this company, or what's left of it, gets moving again.

...[CEO Kelly] Ortberg hasn’t done any media interviews since taking over, although he’s reached out to customers, regulators, Pentagon officials and toured Boeing factories. An engineer by training, Ortberg spent most of his career at what is now known as Collins Aerospace, a well-regarded avionics equipment manufacturer that’s a key supplier to Boeing.

As CEO, Ortberg has appealed to a sense of camaraderie and shared destiny with the workforce. He made a point about relocating to Seattle from West Palm Beach, Florida, in a departure from his predecessor, who largely ran the company from the other side of the continent.

When the strike started in mid September, the CEO urged workers to embrace the future and not hold grudges, a nod to a 2014 contract that cost them their pensions. Senior management took solidarity pay reductions when Ortberg announced furloughs to preserve cash, and the latest job cuts will also include executives and management, he said.

...With the job cuts, Ortberg wants to instill a sense of urgency and shared sacrifice, said George Ferguson, an analyst with Bloomberg Intelligence. But the move threatens further antagonizing the very workers Boeing needs to restart jetliner production, at a time when skilled mechanics are in high demand.

Even before Friday’s announcement, the war of words had intensified. Both Boeing and the union filed formal complaints accusing the other of breaching the protocol for labor negotiations.

“He can’t win without the union,” Ferguson said of Ortberg. “He needs their heart and soul when they come back to the floor. If there was a honeymoon for the CEO, it seems to be over.”

Reconciliation and a road to recovery sure seem to be on hold, as the union is on strike for the foreseeable future.

Does Boeing have a future?

Remains to be seen.

All I know is that if I were one of those Boeing astronauts almost marooned on the Space Station right now, I'd thank my lucky stars for a guy named Elon Musk.

If it was up to anyone at Boeing and the Biden-HARRIS administration...well, good Lord. 

It hardly bears thinking about.