Over half of Boeing's fighter-jet plant machinists opt for voluntary buyouts

[September 13, 2014]  By Alwyn Scott
 
 (Reuters) - More than half of the Boeing Co machinists at its fighter-jet plant in St. Louis, Missouri, have signed up to take voluntary buyouts, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said on Friday.

About 1,300 of the 2,300 machinists at the St. Louis plant had signed up for the plan by a recent deadline, but not all who signed up will take it as some will reconsider their options, the IAM said.

Boeing confirmed that it had offered the buyout to certain workers who met eligibility requirements, and that not all of the workers were expected to leave.

"We saw strong employee interest in the option," said Boeing spokesman in St Louis, Philip Carder. "Doing this helps provide customers more affordable products in a highly competitive marketplace."
 

Workers at the plant build the F/A-18E/F and F-15 fighter jets, as well as Boeing's electronic attack EA-18G fighter, but the company has not garnered sufficient orders to keep the line working beyond 2017.

Lower military spending had forced Boeing to cut about 15,000 workers in its defense and space division over three years, with more to come, Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing's chief operating officer, said at the Reuters Aerospace and Defense Summit this week.

The cuts were part of a drive to lower overhead by $4 billion, with another $2 billion still to come, he said.

The Wall Street journal first reported on Friday that more than half of the plant members had opted for the buyout offer and the company may decide by next April whether to close the fighter-jet line.

Boeing said last year it would shut the C-17 military transport plane production in Long Beach, California, by April next year.

The Chicago-based aerospace company's shares had closed down 0.5 percent at $126.95 on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.

(Reporting by Alwyn Scott in New York and Shailaja Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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