Boeing freezes hiring in sweeping cost cuts as it grapples with strike [Video]

Boeing announced sweeping cost cuts Monday, including a hiring freeze, a pause on nonessential staff travel and a reduction on supplier spending to preserve cash as it deals with a strike by more than 30,000 factory workers.

Boeing factory workers, mostly in the Seattle area, started walking off the job early Friday after overwhelmingly rejecting a tentative labor deal, halting most of Boeing’s aircraft production.

The manufacturer will make “significant reductions” to supplier spending and stop most purchase orders for its 737 Max, 767 and 777 jetliners, CFO Brian West said in a note to staff. It was the first clear sign of how the strike will affect the hundreds of suppliers that rely on Boeing work.

“We are working in good faith to reach a new contract …