US aircraft manufacturer Boeing announced on Tuesday that it had resumed production of the 737, its flagship aircraft, after a strike by nearly 33,000 workers in the Seattle area halted production for almost three months during negotiations on a new social agreement.
According to Boeing, production of the 737 resumed on Friday at the Renton plant, and production of the 777, 777X and 767 should follow in the next few days at Everett.
These two plants, located not far from Seattle, were paralysed by a work stoppage lasting more than 50 days.
The strike ended thanks to an agreement between management and machinists' union IAM), ratified on 4 November by its members. However, the group took more than a month to restart the machines, as part of measures to improve the quality of its production, after a series of problems lasting several months, culminating in an in-flight incident in January 2024.
In particular, it has carried out training, inventory and certification operations prior to any restart, Boeing said.
The group nevertheless managed to deliver 13 aircraft in November, including nine 737 MAXs that left the factory before the strike. It also handed over two 787-9 Dreamliners from its South Carolina plant, which was not affected by the strike, and two 777 freighters.
Boeing has announced measures to preserve its cash flow, including a 10% reduction of its global workforce, which totalled nearly 171,000 persons at the end of 2023.
According to legal declarations in recent weeks, compiled by French news agency AFP, nearly 4,700 employees in the United States - including nearly 2,600 around Seattle - have received redundancy notices, some of them with effect from as early as 20 December.
