--
Oct. 03--Hawker Beechcraft has received an offer from Louisiana to move its entire operations, including its headquarters, to Baton Rouge, the Machinists union said today.
As a result, Gov. Mark Parkinson has requested a meeting with company and union officials.
In the meantime, union officials have postponed a vote on a new contract scheduled for next Saturday.
Parkinson, union officials, Hawker Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture and officials from the governor's office will meet Tuesday, union spokesman Bob Wood said.
The company employs 6,000 people in Wichita.
If the company takes Louisiana's offer, "HBC would no longer exist in Kansas," the union said in a flier to members today. "Every hourly employee, engineer and any other non-bargaining employee will lose their jobs."
Parkinson has indicated to the union that there may be assistance available to sustain a portion of the jobs in Wichita, the union said.
"If Kansas were able to make an offer to HBC that would save some Wichita jobs, the membership ratifying a re-negotiated contract would be a key part of the final deal to keep those jobs in Wichita," the flier said.
"This is cold, hard reality, brothers and sisters," it said. "What is happening is wrong, but we must face it head-on anyway."
