The month-long strike by Boeing Company's aircraft workers is starting to spoil airlines' expansion plans and eat into the profits of parts suppliers and metals makers around the world, Reuters reported.
The strike has been pushed out of the headlines by the global financial crisis, but its effects are slowly gathering force and may cause serious disruptions if no resolution is reached by the end of the year, which some analysts fear.
The 27,000 members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) stopped production at Boeing's plane factories in the Seattle area when they walked out on September 6 after rejecting the company's contract offer.
Both sides have agreed to return to the bargaining table with federal mediators, but no dates for talks have been set.
In the meantime, the lines are idle and no planes are being delivered to customers, causing problems for a growing list of companies, from airlines such as Virgin to metals makers Alcoa and parts suppliers such as Spirit Aerosystems Holdings.
The strike has also served to further delay Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, which before the strike began was already over 15 months behind schedule.
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