Grapevine

Boeing, union at strike impasse as company halts talks, withdraws pay offer

The strike will cost Boeing more than $1bn a month per estimates.

The nearly four-week-old strike between Boeing and its key manufacturing union are showing no signs of a breakthrough after talks broke down, with no new negotiations planned.

The United States-based plane maker on Tuesday withdrew its pay offer to about 33,000 US factory workers, saying the union did not consider its proposals seriously after two days of talks.

The breakdown compounds financial and production problems at Boeing, one of the two primary global commercial plane-makers, and adds to a years-long backlog of deliveries to air carriers reliant on Boeing.

The strike would cost Boeing more than $1bn a month, S&P Global Ratings estimated, while warning of a downgrade of its debt to junk territory. It has a $60bn debt load. “The strike puts Boeing’s recovery at risk,” S&P wrote late Tuesday.