On a Friday evening in September, Boeing and the union representing its engineering workforce arrived at a tentative contract agreement, closing out a summer of labor negotiations that carried weight well beyond wages and benefits. For a company navigating production setbacks, quality concerns, and regulatory scrutiny, the accord signals something rarer and more fragile than a signed document — a moment of internal alignment. Whether the membership ratifies the deal remains to be seen, but the willingness of both sides to find common ground suggests that, at least for now, the people who build