Employees said they’ve been saving for years to strike as long as it takes: “I think everybody is ready for the long haul.”

Around Boeing Co.’s vast aircraft manufacturing hub in Seattle, the great belt tightening has begun as the planemaker and its factory workers settle in for a labor dispute that will test the resolve of both sides.

Boeing said furloughs began on Friday for thousands of employees in Washington State and Oregon, after more than 32,000 workers went on strike last week, halting production of the U.S. planemaker's best-selling 737 MAX and other jets.