Boeing’s CEO says the company will begin furloughing a large number of employees to save cash during a strike by union machinists.

Affected employees will take one week of furlough every four weeks on a rolling basis as long as the strike lasts.

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.

Boeing is suspending the jobs of tens of thousands of staff in the US in response to a strike that has shut down production of some of its airplanes. The aerospace giant said US-based executives, managers and staff would be asked to take one week of furlough every four weeks as long as the stand-off lasts.

Nonunion employees will experience one-week furloughs every four weeks as the troubled planemaker struggles to conserve cash.

Boeing may prevent its debt being downgraded to junk by issuing more stock, which would deal another blow to current shareholders.

The employees are now in their second week of striking with no sign of any deal with Boeing management on the horizon. We asked workers on the picket line outside a Boeing factory