Boeing CEO Faces Challenge Of Mending Divisions After Strike

Ending the strike only stemmed the bleeding at Boeing. Now, CEO Kelly Ortberg, just three months into the job, is faced with repairing a divided, demoralized, and drifting American corporate icon, reported Dan Catchpole, Allison Lampert, Tim Hepher, and Joe Brock for Reuters.

A seven-week strike abruptly halted Ortberg’s honeymoon period at Boeing. I Photo: Boeing in Washington X

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More than 33,000 factory workers in the U.S. Northwest will return to work next week after they voted to accept Boeing’s third contract offer, ending a seven-week strike that abruptly halted Ortberg’s honeymoon period at Boeing.

The strike has exposed divisions that run deep within the company—not only between the board and machinists but also within the union and between white-collar staff and factory workers, according to interviews with more than 20 people with knowledge of Boeing’s operations.

These fractures could hamper and delay a host of urgent issues facing Ortberg and his leadership team, including restoring plane production, restructuring Boeing's struggling defense and space business, and stabilizing a supply chain weakened by years of safety and production crises and the pandemic.

That’s before Boeing gets to what could be Ortberg’s defining moment: preparing a successor to the 737 MAX, a jet that has been a best-seller with airlines but has also become synonymous with the company's struggles in recent years.