Wichita Union Asks Companies to Shut Down Then Make Medical Supplies to Fight COVID-19
Stop building planes and start making medical supplies.
That’s the gist of the message Wichita’s machinists union president sent some of Kansas’ largest employers over the weekend.
Most manufacturing in Kansas has been allowed to continue under Gov. Laura Kelly’s statewide stay-at-home order. Wichita’s machinist union is asking companies to halt production and prepare factories to make face masks and other lifesaving protective equipment to aid in the fight against the novel coronavirus.
“While the union completely understands the need for economic success, this is not a time to be distracted with production schedules and profit,” wrote Cornell Beard, president of International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 70 in a letter to companies with employees in the union.
“Rather, the foremost responsibility being placed at the door should be protecting the people of this country, at any cost,” Beard’s letter says.
Hospitals across the country are scrambling to find enough personal protective gear to keep doctors and nurses from being infected as they care for patients with COVID-19. The shortages have become so widespread that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently proposed that medical personnel use bandanas or scarfs when masks run out.
To boost the supply, Machinists District Lodge 70 is asking some of the state’s largest employers to stop building airplanes and start making masks. But first, the companies should undergo “a complete and rapid shutdown for all manufacturing personnel” while the companies deep clean their factories.
While the factories are closed for cleaning, the companies should prepare for manufacturing and distributing disposable face shields and splash guards, filter masks and other personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, according to the letter.
The letter went to some of Wichita’s largest aircraft manufacturers, including Spirit AeroSystems, Textron Aviation, Bombardier/Learjet. It also went to Johnson Controls, Jobbers/Garnett Auto Supply Warehouse, Flight Safety Services Corporation, Goldbelt Falcon, DynCorp, Valiant and T.R.D.I. It also went to Sherwin-Williams Manufacturing in Andover, Great Bend Industries, Nortrak in Newton and Tyson Fresh Meats in Holcomb.
Scott Gardner, spokesperson for the Machinists Union, said most of the companies are still operating in some capacity during the statewide stay-at-home order.
Some of the companies have already announced furloughs and work reductions for factory workers.
Spirit announced last week that it was shutting down parts production for Boeing in Wichita for two weeks as both companies grapple with the coronavirus pandemic’s effects on the aerospace industry. Both companies had already slowed production in the wake of the Boeing 737 Max grounding, which caused Spirit to layoff 2,800 employees before the coronavirus pandemic hit the United States.
Spirit Wichita has continued work on its defense programs and the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
Spirit did not answer The Eagle’s questions about how many employees are still worker or whether the company has any plans to begin producing medical equipment.
Keturah Austin, Spirit’s spokesperson, said the company is following the directives from government and health agencies, including new cleaning procedures, travel restrictions for employees, eliminating face-to-face meetings at company facilities and allowing employees to work from home when possible.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and make other changes as circumstances dictate,” Austin said in a written statement.
Machinists District Lodge 70 also represents about 4,700 union workers at Textron Aviation, maker of Cessna, Beechcraft and Hawker airplanes. That company announced staggered furloughs of 7,000 workers until May 29.
Textron and Bombardier could not be immediately reached for comment.
Beard’s letter came amid protests by General Electric factory workers across the country who are demanding that the company covert its jet-engine factories to ventilator-manufacturing plants.
In Arkansas City, Kansas, General Electric recently laid off more than 350 workers. A local union president representing workers in Arkansas City’s GE factory would make an ideal place to build ventilators, another medical device needed to treat severe cases of COVID-19 that’s in short supply.
Officials from GE in Arkansas City were not immediately available for comment.
“It’s unfathomable that more than 350 GE workers from Arkansas City, Kansas, who have the extremely technical job of repairing jet engines, have been put on layoff because of a temporary lack of work,” said Jake Aguanaga, president of IUE-CWA Local 86004 in Kansas in a written statement.
“GE is a company built on innovation,” he said. “In this time of crisis, GE should be innovative in the use of its workforce and take its highly-skilled and capable workforce like our members in Arkansas City, Kansas, to build ventilators and meet the demands of a hurting nation.”
Contributing: Jonathan Shorman of The Wichita Eagle reporting from Topeka; Bryan Lowry of The Kansas City Star reporting from Washington, D.C.
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