The strike at Boeing by 33,000 members of the International Association of Machinists union, which reaches its seventh day today, has already cost the company and workers $572 million, according to an estimate from Anderson Economic Group.

Boeing operates its defense business, which is in a separate unit from the company’s commercial plane segment, in the St. Louis area. There are about 15,000 Boeing workers here.

Resolving the strikes quickly is in the interests of all parties so that work can resume on Boeing's aircraft but passengers are unlikely to be affected.

For a company that has lost $33 billion since 2019, a strike that virtually halts production of its major product is the last thing it needs. But that’s the reality for embattled aircraft maker Boeing.

Around Boeing Co.’s vast aircraft manufacturing hub in Seattle, the great belt tightening has begun as the planemaker and its factory workers settle in for a labor dispute that will test the resolve of both sides.