Boeing Co – TheNewsHub https://thenewshub.in Tue, 05 Nov 2024 12:41:06 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7 Boeing machinists end strike after approving labor contract with 38% wage increases https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/05/boeing-machinists-end-strike-after-approving-labor-contract-with-38-wage-increases/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/05/boeing-machinists-end-strike-after-approving-labor-contract-with-38-wage-increases/?noamp=mobile#respond Tue, 05 Nov 2024 12:41:06 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/05/boeing-machinists-end-strike-after-approving-labor-contract-with-38-wage-increases/

Boeing machinists approved a new labor deal Monday, ending a more than seven-week strike that halted most of the aircraft production at the company that was already struggling with mounting losses.

Machinists voted 59% in favor of the new contract, which includes 38% wage increases over four years and other improvements.

The approval is a relief for Boeing’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, who took the top job in August to steer the company through its safety and manufacturing crises. The company raised more than $20 billion in a share sale last week to weather its financial problems after warning it will likely burn cash through 2025.

Boeing will now be able to resume production, key to its recovery since the bulk of the aircraft price is paid when they are handed over to customers.

“While the past few months have been difficult for all of us, we are all part of the same team. We will only move forward by listening and working together,” Ortberg said after the contract passed. “There is much work ahead to return to the excellence that made Boeing an iconic company.”

President Joe Biden congratulated the union and the company — one of the country’s top exporters — on reaching the deal. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su had gotten involved with the negotiations, meeting with both sides.

“This contract provides a 38% wage increase over four years, improves workers’ ability to retire with dignity, and supports fairness at the workplace,” Biden said in a statement. “This contract is also important for Boeing’s future as a critical part of America’s aerospace sector.”

walked off the job after overwhelmingly rejecting a proposal promising a 25% raise, far short of the 40% the union sought. They voted down another sweetened proposal late last month.

A union member from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 counts ballots after a vote on a new contract proposal from Boeing at a union hall during an ongoing strike in Seattle, Washington, U.S. November 4, 2024.

REUTERS/David Ryder

Union urged approval

“This is a victory. We can hold our heads high,” said International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 President Jon Holden as he announced the results late Monday.

The machinists, who build planes such as the bestselling 737 Max, 777 and 767 aircraft must return to their jobs no later than Nov. 12 the union said. They could return as early as Wednesday.

Boeing said machinist pay will average $119,309 at the end of this contract proposal. The first wage increase will be 13%. The contract also increases 401(k) contributions and a signing bonus of up to $12,000 or a combination of a $7,000 bonus and $5,000 401(k) deposit.

Workers had complained about the skyrocketing cost of living in the Seattle area, where most of Boeing’s aircraft are produced.

But the union had warned that the latest deal, which was proposed last week, might be as good as workers can expect to get.

“In every negotiation and strike, there is a point where we have extracted everything that we can in bargaining and by withholding our labor,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 said in a statement then. “We are at that point now and risk a regressive or lesser offer in the future.”

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Boeing union backs sweetened contract offer that could end strike, sets vote for Monday https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/01/boeing-union-backs-sweetened-contract-offer-that-could-end-strike-sets-vote-for-monday/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/01/boeing-union-backs-sweetened-contract-offer-that-could-end-strike-sets-vote-for-monday/?noamp=mobile#respond Fri, 01 Nov 2024 18:41:54 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/11/01/boeing-union-backs-sweetened-contract-offer-that-could-end-strike-sets-vote-for-monday/

Boeing workers from the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 gather on a picket line near the entrance to a Boeing production facility on the day of a vote on a new contract proposal during an ongoing strike in Renton, Washington, U.S. October 23, 2024. 

David Ryder | Reuters

Boeing and its machinists’ union have agreed on a new negotiated offer to raise worker pay and potentially end a crippling strike that began seven weeks ago with a vote on the new proposal set for Monday.

The union urged workers to approve the contract. Getting workers back into factories is urgent for Boeing as it faces mounting losses.

“In every negotiation and strike, there is a point where we have extracted everything that we can in bargaining and by withholding our labor,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 said Thursday. “We are at that point now and risk a regressive or lesser offer in the future.”

The new proposal includes 38% general wage increases over four years, up from a previous offer for 35%, bringing the compounding pay increases to close to 44%, the union said Thursday. It also gives workers the option of a $12,000 one-time ratification bonus or to choose a previous offer for a $7,000 ratification bonus and a $5,000 401(k) contribution.

The union said that asking its members to stay on strike longer “wouldn’t be right as we have achieved so much success.”

Boeing’s more than 32,000 machinists, mostly based in the Seattle area, walked off the job on Sept. 13 after turning down a tentative agreement. They rejected another proposal earlier this month, extending the strike.

Boeing said Thursday that at the end of the contract, machinist pay will average $119,309.

“It’s time we all come back together and focus on rebuilding the business and delivering the world’s best airplanes,” Boeing’s CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a note to staff on Friday. “There are a lot of people depending on us.”

He urged workers to vote “since the results of the vote will affect all of us.”

The Biden administration has gotten involved in negotiations during the strike, which has halted most aircraft production at Boeing, a top U.S. exporter. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su met with the company and the union this week.

The Boeing strike took a bite out of U.S. employment numbers in October, according to Friday’s U.S. jobs report, the last before the Nov. 5 presidential election.

President Joe Biden congratulated the union and Boeing for the new contract proposal.

“Machinists at Boeing have sacrificed over the years and deserve a strong contract,” he said in a statement on Friday, shortly after the jobs report was released.

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Ortberg said on his first earnings call last week since taking the top job in August that the company has been “feverishly working to find a solution that works for the company and meets our employees’ needs.” Hours later, the workers rejected a negotiated proposal.

Boeing machinists have repeatedly pushed for higher compensation as the cost of living in the Seattle area — where technology giants like Microsoft and Amazon have ramped up staffing — has surged in recent years.

Under the new contract proposal, as in previous iterations, Boeing vowed to build whatever its next airplane will be in the Puget Sound area. One sore spot among workers is that Boeing moved 787 Dreamliner production to a non-union factory in South Carolina.

The strike has further pushed back Boeing leaders’ plans to stabilize the aerospace behemoth as it reels from the impact of production flaws and the fallout from safety issues, most recently a door plug that blew out midair from a Boeing 737 Max 9 at the start of the year.

Boeing lost more than $6 billion in the last quarter and warned it would continue to burn cash through 2025.

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S&P 500 rises to end three-day losing run, lifted by surge in Tesla: Live updates https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/24/sp-500-rises-to-end-three-day-losing-run-lifted-by-surge-in-tesla-live-updates/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/24/sp-500-rises-to-end-three-day-losing-run-lifted-by-surge-in-tesla-live-updates/?noamp=mobile#respond Thu, 24 Oct 2024 21:24:28 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/24/sp-500-rises-to-end-three-day-losing-run-lifted-by-surge-in-tesla-live-updates/

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on Oct. 8, 2024.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

The S&P 500 bounced back on Thursday, posting its first positive day in a week that has been beset by higher rates.

The S&P 500 added 0.21% to 5,809.86 and snapped a three-day run of losses. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 0.76% and closed at 18,415.49. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 140.59 points, or 0.33%, to end at 42,374.36. The blue-chip index notched a four-day losing streak, its first since June.

Tesla was the best-performing stock in the broad market index. The electric vehicle manufacturer surged nearly 22% after posting third-quarter results that beat analysts’ expectations, registering its best day since 2013. Molina Healthcare gained 17.7% on better-than-expected earnings and revenue. Whirlpool and UPS also jumped after posting results.

Dragging the Dow was IBM, which fell more than 6% as the company’s consulting revenue narrowly missed analysts’ estimates. Boeing slipped 1.2% after its machinists rejected a new labor contract.

Roughly 160 S&P 500 companies have posted quarterly results so far, but their earnings growth has been underwhelming. The blended growth rate, which tracks reports that have already come out and estimates for those set to report, indicates an overall S&P 500 earnings growth rate of 3.4% from the year-earlier period, according to FactSet. That result came up short of analysts’ projections.

Treasury yields moved lower, easing from three-month highs reached in the previous session. The 10-year Treasury yield topped the 4.25% threshold on Wednesday at the high of the session.

“The pressure on the market has been from the rate side,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Asset Management. “That’s really what has dampened equity market enthusiasm, and you haven’t had big enough earnings news yet to drive the market to a new high … we’re also not seeing as broad a momentum as we were seeing.”

Stocks are coming off a losing session, with the Dow suffering its biggest one-day drop since early December, falling more than 400 points on Wednesday. The S&P 500 shed nearly 1% and the Nasdaq lost 1.6%.

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Boeing machinists to vote on new proposal with 35% raises that could end strike https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/21/boeing-machinists-to-vote-on-new-proposal-with-35-raises-that-could-end-strike/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/21/boeing-machinists-to-vote-on-new-proposal-with-35-raises-that-could-end-strike/?noamp=mobile#respond Mon, 21 Oct 2024 13:53:47 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/21/boeing-machinists-to-vote-on-new-proposal-with-35-raises-that-could-end-strike/

People hold sings during a strike rally for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) at the Seattle Union Hall in Seattle, Washington, on October 15, 2024.

Jason Redmond | AFP | Getty Images

Boeing and its machinists’ union have reached a new contract proposal, the union said Saturday, outlining a deal that could end a more than monthlong strike that has hobbled the manufacturers’ aircraft  production.

The ratification vote is set for Wednesday.

The new proposal includes 35% wage increases over four years, a higher signing bonus of $7,000, guaranteed minimum payouts in an annual bonus program and higher 401(k) contributions among other changes.

Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su met with both parties earlier this week. “With the help of Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su, we have received a negotiated proposal and resolution to end the strike, and it warrants presenting to the members and is worthy of your consideration,” the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751 said in a statement Saturday.

“President Biden believes the collective bargaining process is the best way to achieve good outcomes for workers, and the ultimate decision on a contract will be for the union workers to decide,” a White House spokesperson said in a statement.

The strike began Sept. 13 after more than 30,000 machinists overwhelmingly rejected a tentative agreement that included 25% wage increases over four years. Boeing later made a sweetened offer but the union blasted it saying it was not negotiated.

“We look forward to our employees voting on the negotiated proposal,” Boeing said in a statement.

Boeing is working to stop bleeding cash as it grapples with a safety crisis stemming from a near-catastrophic door plug blowout on one of its 737 Maxes at start the year and challenges in its other programs.

The company earlier this month said it will report a deep loss and take charges of about $5 billion in its commercial and defense units. A ratified contract on Wednesday, when Boeing also reports full results, would be a victory for new CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took the top job in August, tasked with reshaping the company.

On Oct. 11, he announced job cuts of 10% of Boeing’s workforce and that the company will stop making 767s when orders are fulfilled in 2027.

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Embraer CEO says jet maker studying possibilities for a new aircraft https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/18/embraer-ceo-says-jet-maker-studying-possibilities-for-a-new-aircraft/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/18/embraer-ceo-says-jet-maker-studying-possibilities-for-a-new-aircraft/?noamp=mobile#respond Fri, 18 Oct 2024 21:26:15 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/18/embraer-ceo-says-jet-maker-studying-possibilities-for-a-new-aircraft/

Embraer CEO Francisco Gomes Neto speaks during the Embraer Media Day 2022 at the aircraft factory in Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, May 30, 2022. 

Carla Carniel | Reuters

Brazilian plane maker Embraer is studying the market and new technology that could warrant it building an all-new jet, CEO Francisco Gomes Neto told CNBC.

A new airplane could help the airplane manufacturer compete with much larger rivals Airbus and Boeing, which deliver hundreds of jets a year compared with Embraer’s dozens of aircraft.

But Gomes Neto noted that no decisions have been made yet.

“At this point in time, we don’t have concrete plans to go to a big narrow body,” he said, adding that the studies for new engine technologies, avionics and potential demand are “to be prepared.”

In the meantime, Gomes Neto said Embraer is focused on improving results and selling its regional planes, which won orders earlier this year from American Airlines, manufacturing its E2 jet, and “delivering what we promise” customers.

Embraer said Friday that it delivered 16 commercial jets in the third quarter, up more than 5% from a year earlier. Including its defense and business jets, the company handed over 57 jets in the period, a third more than last year.

An Embraer E195E2 aircraft

Frederic Stevens | Getty Images

The Federal Aviation Administration approved a freighter version of its E190 passenger-to-freighter converted jet earlier this month, helping clear the way for its commercial introduction.

“This is maybe the advantage we have: We have a great product [that’s] available,” Gomes Neto said.

Both Airbus and Boeing are struggling to ramp up production and deliver aircraft on time in the wake of the pandemic. Boeing has the added challenges of a safety crisis and a machinist strike.

Boeing once had plans to take control of Embraer’s commercial jet business but ended those discussions in early 2020. Last month, Embraer said Boeing would pay it $150 million over the scuttled plan.

Like its competitors, Embraer is facing supply chain strains coming out of the pandemic, and the company is taking a more in-depth look at delivery capabilities.

Engines, hydraulic valves, cabin interiors and components for them are some of the areas where it has been difficult to ramp up production from suppliers, Gomes Neto said. He added that he expects supply chain problems will likely ease in 2026.

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Spirit AeroSystems to furlough 700 workers as Boeing machinist strike continues https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/18/spirit-aerosystems-to-furlough-700-workers-as-boeing-machinist-strike-continues/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/18/spirit-aerosystems-to-furlough-700-workers-as-boeing-machinist-strike-continues/?noamp=mobile#respond Fri, 18 Oct 2024 13:55:11 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/18/spirit-aerosystems-to-furlough-700-workers-as-boeing-machinist-strike-continues/

Airplane fuselages bound for Boeing’s 737 Max production facility await shipment on rail sidings at their top supplier, Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc., in Wichita, Kansas, on Dec. 17, 2019.

Nick Oxford | Reuters

Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems will furlough some 700 workers as a strike by machinists at the plane maker enters its sixth week, a spokesman for the supplier said Friday.

More than 32,000 Boeing workers walked off the job Sept. 13 after overwhelmingly rejecting a tentative labor deal with Boeing, deepening the aircraft producer’s financial strain and handing a new challenge to CEO Kelly Ortberg, who took the reins just over two months ago.

The temporary furloughs account for about 5% of Spirit’s U.S. workforce, according to its latest annual filing.

The temporary furloughs will affect employees at Spirit’s largest facilities, in Wichita, Kansas, and account for about 5% of Spirit’s U.S. workforce, according to its latest annual filing. Meanwhile, Boeing and its machinists’ union remain at an impasse, and Spirit is considering deeper cuts.

“If the strike continues beyond November, we will have to implement layoffs and additional furloughs,” Spirit spokesman Joe Buccino told CNBC on Friday.

Read more CNBC airline news

Ortberg, who faces investors in his first earnings call next Wednesday, last week announced a series of drastic measures meant to slash costs as the company’s losses mount, including cutting the workforce by 10%, or about 17,000 people. Boeing is also ending 767 commercial production when orders are fulfilled in 2027 and said its long-delayed 777X wide-body jet won’t debut until 2026, pushing it back yet another year.

Boeing is in the process of raising debt or equity to increase liquidity.

The roughly 700 Spirit workers affected by the 21-day furlough are assigned to the 777 and 767 programs for Boeing, for which Spirit has built up “significant inventory,” Buccino said. Spirit workers on Boeing’s bestselling 737 Max are not affected, he added. Work on all three programs, however, is stalled because of the strike.

Boeing agreed to acquire Spirit this summer, but the companies don’t expect the deal to close until mid-2025. Reuters earlier reported Spirit’s latest furloughs.

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Boeing to raise as much as $25 billion to shore up balance sheet https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/16/boeing-to-raise-as-much-as-25-billion-to-shore-up-balance-sheet/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/16/boeing-to-raise-as-much-as-25-billion-to-shore-up-balance-sheet/?noamp=mobile#respond Wed, 16 Oct 2024 00:15:45 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/16/boeing-to-raise-as-much-as-25-billion-to-shore-up-balance-sheet/

Boeing said Tuesday that it could raise as much as $25 billion in shares or debt over three years, a move to increase liquidity as the troubled manufacturer faces a more than monthlong machinist strike and problems throughout its aircraft programs.

“This universal shelf registration provides flexibility for the company to seek a variety of capital options as needed to support the company’s balance sheet over a three year period,” Boeing said in a statement.

Boeing shares are down nearly 42% this year as of Tuesday.

Bank of America aerospace analysts have estimated that Boeing will raise between $10 billion and $15 billion in equity.

“We expect Boeing to offer equity first, which should shore up the company’s balance sheet in the near term while maintaining the option to later issue equity debt with a lower risk of a credit downgrade,” BoFA analyst Ron Epstein wrote Tuesday.

Fitch Ratings said Boeing’s announcement Tuesday will “increase financial flexibility and moderate near-term liquidity concerns.”

Boeing is trying to shore up its balance sheet as it faces warnings from credit ratings agencies that it could lose its investment-grade rating.

Read more CNBC airline news

S&P Global Ratings, one of the agencies that warned about a downgrade, last week estimated that the machinist strike is costing Boeing more than $1 billion a month.

The two sides have been at an impasse. On Tuesday, four U.S. lawmakers representing Washington state wrote to Boeing’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, Jon Holden, president of IAM District 751, and Brandon Bryant, president president of IAM District W24, urging the parties to come to a solution.

The lawmakers said they hoped they will “will expeditiously work out a fair and durable deal that recognizes the importance of the machinist workforce to Boeing’s future, the aerospace economy of the Pacific Northwest, and the nation,” in the letter, signed by Washington state Democrats, Sens. Maria Cantwell, Patty Murray and U.S. Rep. Adam Smith and Rep. Rick Larsen.

Earlier, Boeing separately said in a filing that it has an agreement with a consortium of banks for a $10 billion credit agreement.

“The credit facility provides additional short term access to liquidity as we navigate through a challenging environment,” the company said in a statement. “The company has not drawn on this facility or its existing credit revolver.”

On Friday, Ortberg, warned that the company plans to lay off about 17,000 employees, or 10% of its global workforce to cut costs.

“We need to be clear-eyed about the work we face and realistic about the time it will take to achieve key milestones on the path to recovery,” he said, adding that Boeing needs to focus resources on “areas that are core to who we are.”

The announcement came alongside preliminary financial results, showing mounting losses and $5 billion in charges in Boeing’s defense and commercial airplane units.

On Oct. 23, Ortberg will hold his first quarterly investor call since becoming Boeing’s CEO in August.

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United Airlines plans $1.5 billion share buyback, forecasts fourth-quarter earnings above estimates https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/15/united-airlines-plans-1-5-billion-share-buyback-forecasts-fourth-quarter-earnings-above-estimates/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/15/united-airlines-plans-1-5-billion-share-buyback-forecasts-fourth-quarter-earnings-above-estimates/?noamp=mobile#respond Tue, 15 Oct 2024 22:41:07 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/15/united-airlines-plans-1-5-billion-share-buyback-forecasts-fourth-quarter-earnings-above-estimates/

A United Airlines Boeing 737-MAX 8 aircraft departs at San Diego International Airport en route to New York on Aug. 24, 2024.

Kevin Carter | Getty Images

United Airlines said Tuesday that it is starting a $1.5 billion share buyback as the carrier reported higher-than-expected earnings for the busy summer travel season and forecast strong results for the last three months of the year.

United expects to earn an adjusted $2.50 to $3.00 a share in the fourth quarter, compared to $2.00 a share a year earlier and the $2.68 analysts polled by LSEG estimated.

Here is what United reported for the third quarter compared with what Wall Street expected, based on average estimates compiled by LSEG:

  • Earnings per share: $3.33 adjusted vs. $3.17 expected
  • Revenue: $14.84 billion vs. $14.78 billion expected

The share buyback would be United’s first since before the Covid-19 pandemic. U.S. airlines received more than $50 billion in government aid during the pandemic travel slump that prohibited share repurchases and dividends, though airlines were still fighting for financial stability.

Southwest Airlines announced a $2.5 billion share repurchase program last month.

“Like other leading airlines and companies, we are initiating a measured, strategic share repurchase program,” United CEO Scott Kirby said in a note to staff on Tuesday. “Importantly, my commitment to you is that investing in our people and our business will always be my top priority even while we institute this share repurchase program.”

Read more CNBC airline news

For the third quarter, United posted revenue of $14.84 billion, up 2.5% from a year earlier and above analysts’ estimates. It reported net income of $965 million, down 15% from a year ago.

United said domestic unit revenue was positive in August and September compared to last year as airlines trimmed a glut of flights that were pushing down fares. United expanded capacity by 4.1% in the third quarter. The carrier said corporate revenue rose 13% in the quarter; premium revenue, including business class tickets, rose 5%; and sales from its no-frills basic economy tickets were up 20%.

The airline last week unveiled a far-flung expansion for next year that included new flights to Mongolia, Senegal, Spain and Greenland in a chase for international travel demand.

Adjusting for one-time items, United reported earnings per share of $3.33, topping Wall Street forecasts and United’s estimate in July of $2.75 to $3.25 a share.

Airline executives will hold a call with analysts at 10:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday and will likely face questions about demand for the end of the year and into 2025, as well as production problems at Boeing, where most factories have been idled during a more than monthlong machinist strike.

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Boeing factory strike crosses 1-month mark as pressure mounts on new CEO https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/14/boeing-factory-strike-crosses-1-month-mark-as-pressure-mounts-on-new-ceo/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/14/boeing-factory-strike-crosses-1-month-mark-as-pressure-mounts-on-new-ceo/?noamp=mobile#respond Mon, 14 Oct 2024 15:45:16 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/14/boeing-factory-strike-crosses-1-month-mark-as-pressure-mounts-on-new-ceo/

Boeing Machinists union members picket outside a Boeing factory on September 13, 2024 in Renton, Washington. 

Stephen Brashear | Getty Images

It’s been just over a month since more than 30,000 Boeing machinists walked off the job after overwhelmingly voting down a tentative contract. Costs and tensions have only risen since then.

The strike is adding to pressure on Boeing’s new CEO, Kelly Ortberg, who was brought in over the summer to solve the plane maker’s various troubles. The strike, which S&P Global Ratings estimates costs Boeing more than $1 billion a month, bookends an already difficult year that started with a near-catastrophic blowout of a 737 Max door plug and comes six years after the first of two fatal Max crashes put the storied manufacturer in constant crisis mode.

The union and company remain at an impasse, and airplane production at factories in the Seattle area and other locations has been idled, depriving Boeing of cash. Boeing last week pulled a sweetened contract offer that the union had rejected, saying it wasn’t negotiated.

Boeing officials had been upbeat to airline customers about getting to a deal in the weeks before the original vote, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the conversations were private.

But that optimism didn’t pan out, as workers on Sept. 13 voted 95% against an initial tentative labor deal.

“They’ll have to increase their offer. There’s no doubt about that,” said Harry Katz, a professor who studies collective bargaining at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. He said one of the union’s demands, a return to a pension plan, is unlikely, however, and estimated the strike could last two to five more weeks.

Read more CNBC airline news

The process of ending strike has turned more fraught, with federally mediated talks breaking down midweek.

Boeing on Thursday said it filed an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board that accused the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union of negotiating in bad faith and misrepresenting the plane makers’ proposals.

Late Friday, Jon Holden, president of the striking workers’ union, IAM District 751, pushed for a return to negotiations.

“CEO Ortberg has an opportunity to do things differently instead of the same old tired labor relations threats used to intimidate and crush anyone that stands up to them,” he said in a statement. “Ultimately, it will be our membership that determines whether any negotiated contract offer is accepted. They want a resolution that is negotiated and addresses their needs.”

Boeing’s unionized machinists are not receiving paychecks and lost their company-backed health insurance at the end of September. However, unlike during the last Boeing factory strike in 2008, there is more contract work in the Seattle area to help workers fill the gaps. A union message board posts job opportunities like driving for food delivery services and warehouse work.

cut its global workforce by about 10% “over coming months,” including layoffs of executives, managers and employees.

He also told staff that Boeing will stop producing commercial 767 freighters when it fulfills its backlog in 2027 and that the delivery of its 777X will be delayed yet another year, to 2026.

The surprise cuts came alongside preliminary financial results that showed deepening losses: Boeing said it expects to lose nearly $10 a share for the third quarter and that it will incur charges of about $5 billion in its commercial and defense units. The manufacturer hasn’t had an annual profit since 2018. Ortberg faces investors in his first full earnings call as CEO on Oct. 23.

“The thing is once they get 737 production on track all their money problems are gone but they’re not willing to settle to make that happen,” said Richard Aboulafia, managing director at AeroDynamic Advisory. “They’re firing a lot of people who could make that [stable production] happen. It seems like they’re kind of burning down their own house.”

Aboulafia estimated labor in final assembly of an aircraft accounts for about 5% of the airplane’s cost.

Ortberg is now tasked with drumming up cash and stopping the bleeding as the company’s losses mount. Boeing’s shares are down 42% this year through Friday’s close, the steepest drop since 2008.

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Boeing and S&P 500 performance

“We also need to focus our resources on performing and innovating in the areas that are core to who we are, rather than spreading ourselves across too many efforts that can often result in underperformance and underinvestment,” Ortberg said in a note to staff on Friday.

S&P Global Ratings last week warned the company that it was at risk of a downgrade to junk status, as halted production of Boeing’s bestselling 737 Max and its 767s and 777s costs the company more than $1 billion per month. The estimate includes previously announced cost cuts like temporary furloughs, a hiring freeze and a halt of most purchase orders for affected aircraft.

Boeing is “facing issues on quality, labor relations, program execution and cash burn, which seem to have created a continuous doom loop cycle,” said Bank of America aerospace analyst Ron Epstein in a note Friday. He said Boeing’s early financial release on Friday likely points to an equity raise in the works of as much as $15 billion.

Boeing 737 fuselages on railcars at Spirit AeroSystems’ factory in Wichita, Kansas, US, on Monday, July 1, 2024. 

Nick Oxford | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The announced job cuts come after Boeing and the rest of the aerospace supply chain worked to hire and train new machinists and other specialists after pandemic-era buyouts and layoffs of thousands of employees.

Instability at Boeing could fan out to its suppliers. Boeing’s 737 fuselage maker, Spirit AeroSystems, is considering furloughing workers in its cost-cutting contingency plans, a spokesman said, adding it hasn’t made any decisions. Boeing is in the process of acquiring that company.

“They’re probably telling us a story about cost savings carrying them through,” Aboulafia said of Boeing’s latest cost cuts. “When has stuff not working stopped them from trying it again?”

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Trump or Harris? Here are the 2024 stakes for airlines, banks, EVs, health care and more https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/13/trump-or-harris-here-are-the-2024-stakes-for-airlines-banks-evs-health-care-and-more/ https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/13/trump-or-harris-here-are-the-2024-stakes-for-airlines-banks-evs-health-care-and-more/?noamp=mobile#respond Sun, 13 Oct 2024 13:36:31 +0000 https://thenewshub.in/2024/10/13/trump-or-harris-here-are-the-2024-stakes-for-airlines-banks-evs-health-care-and-more/

Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris face off in the ABC presidential debate on Sept. 10, 2024.

Getty Images

With the U.S. election less than a month away, the country and its corporations are staring down two drastically different options.

For airlines, banks, electric vehicle makers, health-care companies, media firms, restaurants and tech giants, the outcome of the presidential contest could result in stark differences in the rules they’ll face, the mergers they’ll be allowed to pursue, and the taxes they’ll pay.

During his last time in power, former President Donald Trump slashed the corporate tax rate, imposed tariffs on Chinese goods, and sought to cut regulation and red tape and discourage immigration, ideas he’s expected to push again if he wins a second term.

In contrast, Vice President Kamala Harris has endorsed hiking the tax rate on corporations to 28% from the 21% rate enacted under Trump, a move that would require congressional approval. Most business executives expect Harris to broadly continue President Joe Biden‘s policies, including his war on so-called junk fees across industries.

Personnel is policy, as the saying goes, so the ramifications of the presidential race won’t become clear until the winner begins appointments for as many as a dozen key bodies, including the Treasury, Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission, and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

CNBC examined the stakes of the 2024 presidential election for some of corporate America’s biggest sectors. Here’s what a Harris or Trump administration could mean for business:

American Airlines and JetBlue Airways in the Northeast and JetBlue’s now-scuttled plan to buy budget carrier Spirit Airlines.

The previous Trump administration didn’t pursue those types of consumer protections. Industry members say that under Trump, they would expect a more favorable environment for mergers, though four airlines already control more than three-quarters of the U.S. market.

On the aerospace side, Boeing and the hundreds of suppliers that support it are seeking stability more than anything else.

Trump has said on the campaign trail that he supports additional tariffs of 10% or 20% and higher duties on goods from China. That could drive up the cost of producing aircraft and other components for aerospace companies, just as a labor and skills shortage after the pandemic drives up expenses.

Tariffs could also challenge the industry, if they spark retaliatory taxes or trade barriers to China and other countries, which are major buyers of aircraft from Boeing, a top U.S. exporter.

Leslie Josephs

JPMorgan Chase faced an onslaught of new rules this year as Biden appointees pursued the most significant slate of regulations since the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.

Those efforts threaten tens of billions of dollars in industry revenue by slashing fees that banks impose on credit cards and overdrafts and radically revising the capital and risk framework they operate in. The fate of all of those measures is at risk if Trump is elected.

Trump is expected to nominate appointees for key financial regulators, including the CFPB, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation that could result in a weakening or killing off completely of the myriad rules in play.

“The Biden administration’s regulatory agenda across sectors has been very ambitious, especially in finance, and large swaths of it stand to be rolled back by Trump appointees if he wins,” said Tobin Marcus, head of U.S. policy at Wolfe Research.

Bank CEOs and consultants say it would be a relief if aspects of the Biden era — an aggressive CFPB, regulators who discouraged most mergers and elongated times for deal approvals — were dialed back.

“It certainly helps if the president is Republican, and the odds tilt more favorably for the industry if it’s a Republican sweep” in Congress, said the CEO of a bank with nearly $100 billion in assets who declined to be identified speaking about regulators.

Still, some observers point out that Trump 2.0 might not be as friendly to the industry as his first time in office.

Trump’s vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance, of Ohio, has often criticized Wall Street banks, and Trump last month began pushing an idea to cap credit card interest rates at 10%, a move that if enacted would have seismic implications for the industry.

Bankers also say that Harris won’t necessarily cater to traditional Democratic Party ideas that have made life tougher for banks. Unless Democrats seize both chambers of Congress as well as the presidency, it may be difficult to get agency heads approved if they’re considered partisan picks, experts note.

“I would not write off the vice president as someone who’s automatically going to go more progressive,” said Lindsey Johnson, head of the Consumer Bankers Association, a trade group for big U.S. retail banks.

Hugh Son

Inflation Reduction Act.

Harris hasn’t been as vocal a supporter of EVs lately amid slower-than-expected consumer adoption of the vehicles and consumer pushback. She has said she does not support an EV mandate such as the Zero-Emission Vehicles Act of 2019, which she cosponsored during her time as a senator, that would have required automakers to sell only electrified vehicles by 2040. Still, auto industry executives and officials expect a Harris presidency would be largely a continuation, though not a copy, of the past four years of Biden’s EV policy.

They expect some potential leniency on federal fuel economy regulations but minimal changes to the billions of dollars in incentives under the IRA.

Mike Wayland

more than $4 trillion a year.

Despite spending more on health care than any other wealthy country, the U.S. has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest rate of people with multiple chronic diseases and the highest maternal and infant death rates, according to the Commonwealth Fund, an independent research group.

Meanwhile, roughly half of American adults say it is difficult to afford health-care costs, which can drive some into debt or lead them to put off necessary care, according to a May poll conducted by health policy research organization KFF. 

Both Harris and Trump have taken aim at the pharmaceutical industry and proposed efforts to lower prescription drug prices in the U.S., which are nearly three times higher than those seen in other countries. 

But many of Trump’s efforts to lower costs have been temporary or not immediately effective, health policy experts said. Meanwhile, Harris, if elected, can build on existing efforts of the Biden administration to deliver savings to more patients, they said.

Harris specifically plans to expand certain provisions of the IRA, part of which aims to lower health-care costs for seniors enrolled in Medicare. Harris cast the tie-breaking Senate vote to pass the law in 2022. 

Her campaign says she plans to extend two provisions to all Americans, not just seniors: a $2,000 annual cap on out-of-pocket drug spending and a $35 limit on monthly insulin costs. 

Harris also intends to accelerate and expand a provision allowing Medicare to directly negotiate drug prices with manufacturers for the first time. Drugmakers fiercely oppose those price talks, with some challenging the effort’s constitutionality in court. 

Trump hasn’t publicly indicated what he intends to do about IRA provisions.

Some of Trump’s prior efforts to lower drug prices “didn’t really come into fruition” during his presidency, according to Dr. Mariana Socal, a professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

For example, he planned to use executive action to have Medicare pay no more than the lowest price that select other developed countries pay for drugs, a proposal that was blocked by court action and later rescinded

Trump also led multiple efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, including its expansion of Medicaid to low-income adults. In a campaign video in April, Trump said he was not running on terminating the ACA and would rather make it “much, much better and far less money,” though he has provided no specific plans. 

He reiterated his belief that the ACA was “lousy health care” during his Sept. 10 debate with Harris. But when asked he did not offer a replacement proposal, saying only that he has “concepts of a plan.”

Annika Kim Constantino

Paramount Global and Skydance Media is set to move forward, with plans to close in the first half of 2025, many in media have said the Biden administration has broadly chilled deal-making.

“We just need an opportunity for deregulation, so companies can consolidate and do what we need to do even better,” Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav said in July at Allen & Co.’s annual Sun Valley conference.

Media mogul John Malone recently told MoffettNathanson analysts that some deals are a nonstarter with this current Justice Department, including mergers between companies in the telecommunications and cable broadband space.

Still, it’s unclear how the regulatory environment could or would change depending on which party is in office. Disney was allowed to acquire Fox Corp.’s assets when Trump was in office, but his administration sued to block AT&T’s merger with Time Warner. Meanwhile, under Biden’s presidency, a federal judge blocked the sale of Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House, but Amazon’s acquisition of MGM was approved. 

“My sense is, regardless of the election outcome, we are likely to remain in a similar tighter regulatory environment when looking at media industry dealmaking,” said Marc DeBevoise, CEO and board director of Brightcove, a streaming technology company.

When major media, and even tech, assets change hands, it could also mean increased scrutiny on those in control and whether it creates bias on the platforms.

“Overall, the government and FCC have always been most concerned with having a diversity of voices,” said Jonathan Miller, chief executive of Integrated Media, which specializes in digital media investment.
“But then [Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter] happened, and it’s clearly showing you can skew a platform to not just what the business needs, but to maybe your personal approach and whims,” he said.

Since Musk acquired the social media platform in 2022, changing its name to X, he has implemented sweeping changes including cutting staff and giving “amnesty” to previously suspended accounts, including Trump’s, which had been suspended following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection. Musk has also faced widespread criticism from civil rights groups for the amplification of bigotry on the platform.

Musk has publicly endorsed Trump, and was recently on the campaign trail with the former president. “As you can see, I’m not just MAGA, I’m Dark MAGA,” Musk said at a recent event. The billionaire has raised funds for Republican causes, and Trump has suggested Musk could eventually play a role in his administration if the Republican candidate were to be reelected.

During his first term, Trump took a particularly hard stance against journalists, and pursued investigations into leaks from his administration to news organizations. Under Biden, the White House has been notably more amenable to journalists. 

Also top of mind for media executives — and government officials — is TikTok.

Lawmakers have argued that TikTok’s Chinese ownership could be a national security risk.

Earlier this year, Biden signed legislation that gives Chinese parent ByteDance until January to find a new owner for the platform or face a U.S. ban. TikTok has said the bill, the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which passed with bipartisan support, violates the First Amendment. The platform has sued the government to stop a potential ban.

While Trump was in office, he attempted to ban TikTok through an executive order, but the effort failed. However, he has more recently switched to supporting the platform, arguing that without it there’s less competition against Meta’s Facebook and other social media.

Lillian Rizzo and Alex Sherman

Washington Post previously reported.

In keeping with the campaign’s more labor-friendly approach, Harris is also pledging to eliminate the tip credit: In 37 states, employers only have to pay tipped workers the minimum wage as long as that hourly wage and tips add up to the area’s pay floor. Since 1991, the federal pay floor for tipped wages has been stuck at $2.13.

“In the short term, if [restaurants] have to pay higher wages to their waiters, they’re going to have to raise menu prices, which is going to lower demand,” said Michael Lynn, a tipping expert and Cornell University professor.

Amelia Lucas

has said she and Biden “reject the false choice that suggests we can either protect the public or advance innovation.” Last year, the White House issued an executive order that led to the formation of the Commerce Department’s U.S. AI Safety Institute, which is evaluating AI models from OpenAI and Anthropic.

Trump has committed to repealing the executive order.

A second Trump administration might also attempt to challenge a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that requires companies to disclose cybersecurity incidents. The White House said in January that more transparency “will incentivize corporate executives to invest in cybersecurity and cyber risk management.”

Trump’s running mate, Vance, co-sponsored a bill designed to end the rule. Andrew Garbarino, the House Republican who introduced an identical bill, has said the SEC rule increases cybersecurity risk and overlaps with existing law on incident reporting.

Also at stake in the election is the fate of dealmaking for tech investors and executives.

With Lina Khan helming the FTC, the top tech companies have been largely thwarted from making big acquisitions, though the Justice Department and European regulators have also created hurdles.

Tech transaction volume peaked at $1.5 trillion in 2021, then plummeted to $544 billion last year and $465 billion in 2024 as of September, according to Dealogic.

Many in the tech industry are critical of Khan and want her to be replaced should Harris win in November. Meanwhile, Vance, who worked in venture capital before entering politics, said as recently as February — before he was chosen as Trump’s running mate — that Khan was “doing a pretty good job.”

Khan, whom Biden nominated in 2021, has challenged Amazon and Meta on antitrust grounds and has said the FTC will investigate AI investments at Alphabet, Amazon and Microsoft.

Jordan Novet

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