An worker works within the cockpit of a Boeing P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft on the production line at Boeing’s 737 factory in Renton, Washington, November 18, 2021.
Jason Redmond | Reuters
Boeing‘s greater than 32,000 machinists who were on strike are required to return to their factories no later than Tuesday, but getting factories humming again will take weeks, the manufacturer said.
Boeing machinists approved a latest contract last week that included 38% pay raises over 4 years and other improvements, ending a greater than seven-week strike that halted output of most of Boeing’s aircraft production. They first walked off the job on Sept. 13, turning down a proposal with 25% raises.
The corporate said Tuesday that it handed over 14 jetliners in October, the fewest since November 2020, in the course of the depths of the pandemic and the tail end of the worldwide grounding of Boeing’s 737 Max within the wake of two fatal crashes. Nine of the deliveries last month were 737 Maxes. A spokesman said staff unaffected by the strike performed the delivery procedures.
Boeing’s troubles have put it further behind Airbus this yr. The U.S. manufacturer handed over 305 airplanes up to now this yr compared with its European rival’s 559 aircraft.
As the employees return, Boeing has to evaluate potential hazards, restate machinist duties and safety requirements, and make sure that all training qualifications are current, a spokesman said.
“It’s much harder to show this on than it’s to show it off,” CEO Kelly Ortberg said in the course of the company’s quarterly call last month. “So it’s absolutely critical that we do that right.”
The corporate is resuming production in Washington state and Oregon for the 737 Max, 767 and 777 programs, in addition to military versions of its aircraft. Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner production continued in the course of the strike because those planes are made in a nonunion factory in South Carolina.
Despite the strike pause, Boeing continued to sell dozens of aircraft in October, with 63 gross orders, two shy of September’s total. Forty of them are 737 Max 8s for the Avia Solutions Group. It also handed over 10 787 Dreamliners to LATAM Airlines.
