A Boeing 737 fuselage is installed on a rail car at the Spirit AeroSystems plant in Wichita, Kansas, USA, Monday, July 1, 2024.
Nick Oxford | Bloomberg | Getty Images
spirit aerospace systems inc. Are considering furloughing or laying off hundreds of employees if boeing company The machinists’ strike continues beyond November 25, a company spokesperson told CNBC on Thursday.
Boeing’s machinists’ strike is heading into its sixth week after they voted 64 percent Wednesday to reject a new proposed labor contract, extending a shutdown that has halted production of most of the company’s planes and the factory to… Centered in the Seattle area.
Spirit, which makes fuselages and other major parts for Boeing’s best-selling 737 Max, is preparing to furlough about 700 workers at its Wichita, Kan., plant. Those furloughs could begin next week.
Spirit spokesman Joe Buccino said there will be further layoffs in addition to the furloughs, but no decisions have been made yet.
Spirit’s consideration of additional furloughs shows how a prolonged strike is straining an already fragile aerospace supply chain. Boeing suppliers have largely been hesitant to cut jobs, in part because they spent years rebuilding their workforces after the pandemic. Airbus faces similar supply chain pressures.
More than 32,000 Boeing mechanics in the Puget Sound region of Oregon and other locations went on strike on Sept. 13 after rejecting an earlier tentative deal.
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