Boeing Expected to Restart Labor Negotiations as It Seeks End to Strike

Boeing and its largest union are expected to restart contract negotiations on Tuesday with the help of federal mediators, days after thousands of workers rejected a previous offer and went on strike.

The walkout, which began on Friday, has already drastically slowed the company’s production of commercial airplanes because most of the union’s more than 33,000 members work in manufacturing in the Seattle area. The company makes several airplanes, including the 737 Max, its most popular, in two factories outside the city. If the strike lasts for several weeks, analysts estimate that Boeing, which was already in a financially precarious position before the stoppage began, could lose billions of dollars.

Workers last week overwhelmingly rejected a tentative contract that Boeing and union officials had negotiated, saying that it fell well short of what the union had initially sought on raises, retirement benefits and other issues. But in a message to employees on Monday, Boeing’s chief financial officer, Brian West, said that the company was “working in good faith” on a new deal that reflected worker feedback and allowed the company to return to normal operations.

Tuesday’s meeting will take place in Seattle, where small teams of leaders from Boeing and the union will convene with representatives from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, a government agency that helps to resolve labor disputes.

The agency’s role in such mediations is narrow. It does not make decisions on the content or outcome of talks, but aims to help the parties find an agreeable resolution, Javier Ramirez, the agency’s deputy director of field operations, said in an interview on Monday.

“We focus more on the process and helping the parties explore