Striking Machinists Bet Boeing Can’t Fix Itself Without Them

Nearly every union victory in the pandemic rebound has happened because employers had cash to burn—and unions knew it.

But that’s not the case with the Boeing Co. The plane maker is saddled with $45 billion in debt and bleeding millions more each day its factories sit idle due to an ongoing machinists strike in the Pacific Northwest. Yet those 33,000 workers still think they can win big raises, due to an abiding belief that Boeing still needs them more then they need Boeing.

It may sound counterintuitive, but the International Association of Machinists and labor analysts say Boeing’s financial ...