Boeing to Begin Temporary Layoffs Because of Strike

The aerospace giant said it would temporarily lay off tens of thousands of employees to stem losses from a walkout by the machinists’ union.

Boeing will start furloughing tens of thousands of employees in the coming days as it seeks to blunt the effects of a strike involving its largest union, the company said on Wednesday.

The strike, which began on Friday, has drastically slowed production of commercial airplanes because most of the union’s more than 33,000 members work in manufacturing in the Seattle area. Boeing announced a series of cost-cutting measures this week to stem losses that could reach into the billions of dollars in a prolonged strike.

“With production paused across many key programs in the Pacific Northwest, our business faces substantial challenges and it is important that we take difficult steps to preserve cash and ensure that Boeing is able to successfully recover,” the company’s chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, said in a message to employees on Wednesday.

Mr. Ortberg joined Boeing last month, part of a management shuffle after a panel blew off one of the company’s planes in flight this year, leading to a crisis for the company. In response, federal regulators limited Boeing’s plane production and the company initiated a series of changes aimed at improving quality and safety.

Managers planned to meet with workers on Wednesday to review how the temporary furloughs, which Mr. Ortberg said would affect “a large number of U.S.-based executives, managers and employees,” would play out. He also said that he and other company leaders would take a pay cut for the rest of the strike, though he did not say by how much.

Employees will continue to receive benefits. And, for some, the temporary furloughs will be cycled in, with workers taking one week off every four weeks, on a rolling basis. It was not immediately clear which workers would be affected by the furloughs. Engineers, who are represented by a chapter of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, are still required to work during the strike.

“While this is a tough decision that impacts everybody, it is in an effort to preserve our long-term future and help us navigate through this very difficult time,” Mr. Ortberg said in his message, adding that the company would “do all we can to limit this hardship.”

Boeing announced on Monday that it would freeze hiring, limit travel and cut spending on a wide range of areas, including parts for planes made in the Seattle area. Despite the furloughs and cuts, the company said it is still prioritizing and protecting important functions, including safety, quality and customer support.

Boeing and the union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, resumed negotiations on Tuesday with the help of federal mediators. Union members last week resoundingly rejected the company’s latest contract offer, with many saying that the proposed raises of 25 percent over four years and other provisions were insufficient to offset the cost of living and previous concessions on retirement benefits.

The contract would replace another that was negotiated in 2008 and extended multiple times. That contract came together only after a two-month strike that contributed to a revenue decline of more than $6 billion and a delay in delivering more than 100 airplanes that year, Boeing said in securities filings at the time.