WICHITA, Kansas, September 8, 2008 – It’s day three on the picket lines for Boeing machinists. Union workers walked off the job early Saturday morning after contract negotiations failed.

The strike impacts 750 Wichita Boeing employees, but it is also affecting local companies that do work for Boeing.

While Boeing workers walk the picket lines, their neighbors across the street are feeling the impact too. Monday morning, 11,000 workers at Spirit AeroSystems found out they’ll lose two days of work each week until the Boeing strike is over.

"We will reduce our production schedules to meet the Boeing demand and do everything we can to keep the business healthy and take care of our employees,” said Adam Pogue with Spirit AeroSystems.

Spirit has switched to a three-day work week and everyone is affected from line workers to upper management. The same thing happened three years ago, when Boeing workers went on strike last. Workers then were hit pretty hard.

But back then, Boeing was Spirit’s only customer, but things have changed since then.

"We are much more mature as a company, we've also have a lot more diversification in our business between new customers like Airbus, Rolls Royce Gulf Stream, Cessna,” Pogue said. “So, obviously that is helping us."

Still, that additional work isn’t enough to keep Spirit workers at full staff. And while many prepared for the slow down in production, they want the Boeing strike to end sooner rather than later.

"We hope that this resolves itself quickly and we can all get through this and get back to work, I know that is what everyone wants,” Pogue said.

And Spirit isn’t the only business other than Boeing feeling the effects of the strike. Many smaller contractors are also slowing production because of the work stoppage. At this point, there are no scheduled talks between Boeing and the union. So for now, the strike will continue.