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Machinists strike comes at perilous time for Boeing

Solomon Hammond, 33, left, and John Olson, 45, right, both toolmakers at Boeing's Renton factory, hold picket signs after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract offer and go on strike Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, outside the company's factory in Renton, Wash.
Lindsey Wasson
/
AP
Solomon Hammond, 33, left, and John Olson, 45, right, both toolmakers at Boeing's Renton factory, hold picket signs after union members voted overwhelmingly to reject a contract offer and go on strike Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, outside the company's factory in Renton, Wash.

In the past nine months, Boeing experienced a near-disaster when a door plug blew out mid-air, followed by a change in leadership and now, for the first time in 16 years, a strike by its 33,000-member machinists union. Many of those machinists are now walking the picket lines here in the Pacific Northwest.

A journalist who has spent years documenting Boeing’s troubles is Peter Robison, senior reporter for Bloomberg News. His 2022 book is Flying Blind: The 737 Max Tragedy and the Fall of Boeing.

Robison spoke to KNKX's All Things Considered this week as the Boeing strike continued.

Click "Listen" above to hear what he had to say about the impacts on Boeing's production, cash flow, and labor relations.

Emil Moffatt joined KNKX in October 2022 as All Things Considered host/reporter. He came to the Puget Sound area from Atlanta where he covered the state legislature, the 2021 World Series and most recently, business and technology as a reporter for WABE. Contact him at emoffatt@knkx.org.