The planemaker finds itself in an increasingly untenable situation with its finances so dire that it can ill afford a drawn-out paralysis.

Conventional wisdom holds that the longer a strike goes on, the more money a business will lose. For the Boeing Company, that could mean billions. According to estimates by Anderson Economic Group via the financial publication The Street, Boeing has already lost more than $570 million in the one week since its 33,000 machinists went out on strike.