Onex Could Cut Hundreds of Mechanics Jobs in Wichita, Kan.

The Machinists union said Monday that Onex Corp. wants to hire only a percentage of the 5,300 hourly employees working at Boeing Wichita's commercial aircraft division.

The number of hourly employees the union says Onex wants to hire ranges from about 4,000 to 4,770 of the current work force.

In a document given to the union, Onex said it wanted to hire 4,000 workers, said Machinists union District 70 president Steve Rooney. He said the company also has told the union it wants to hire 85 percent and 90 percent of the hourly work force, Rooney said. That would put the figure it wants to hire at between 4,500 and 4,770.

Onex has not said who it wants to hire or which jobs it plans to eliminate, Rooney said.

Onex managing director Nigel Wright said Onex has not given the union a specific number of people it wants to hire.

"We have not finished determining that number," Wright said.

But a source close to Onex did not dispute the 85 percent to 90 percent range.

Boeing's second-largest union, SPEEA, says it also is concerned about job losses.

Onex has said it will hire the majority of the work force, said Bob Brewer, Midwest director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace. But "we don't know what hiring the majority of the people means," he said.

Besides cuts to its current work force, Onex's proposed new five-year agreement to the Machinists union also is not acceptable, Rooney said.

Onex, a Canadian investment firm, has not presented the Machinists with its final offer, and negotiations will continue next week, he said.

But the current proposal includes a 10 percent wage reduction and a "substantial" increase in health-care premiums, Rooney said. With the cuts to wages and benefits, an hourly worker making an average union wage would take a cut of about $800 per month, he said.

"In Wichita, that's a house payment," Rooney said.

And at the end of the five-year contract, workers would not be making what they earn today, Rooney said.

"We helped build this company, and we deserve better," Rooney said in a memo that went out to Machinists union shop stewards Monday afternoon.

Onex's Wright disputes the amount of cuts an average hourly worker would take.

"I'm not sure those numbers are correct," Wright said.

One has to take into account the upcoming increases to health care costs in Boeing's contract to compare, he said. But the issue is a larger one, Wright said.

"The whole thing is about the fact that our entire plan is to preserve jobs that are otherwise going to... (leave) this facility, and to build on the base," Wright said.

In addition, every piece of new work Onex gets into the plant is work that the plant otherwise would not have.

Onex's proposal to the Machinists, union officials say, includes:

A 10 percent wage cut across the board. General wage increases are called for in each of the last three years of the contract.

Increases to health-care premiums. A traditional Blue Cross family plan will cost $349 a month with "substantial" deductible increases. A similar family plan now costs less than $150.

Changes to the jobs structure. Onex is proposing reducing the number of job classifications from 166 to 11. Some jobs will be eliminated altogether.

Changes in seniority. Onex wants to hire based on several criteria and on input from managers, rather than by seniority, as has been the criterion.

"We feel that Onex is determined to break up the industrial unions," Rooney said in the memo.

SPEEA's proposal, meanwhile, does not include wage cuts.

"It appears that Boeing's leaders have put very tight constraints on any buyer," said SPEEA executive director Charles Bofferding in a memo to members.

"To be fair, it also looks like Boeing required any buyer to work with the union," Bofferding said.