Boeing employees to learn job fate by letter

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) _ The buyer of Boeing's aircraft operations in Oklahoma and Kansas is telling machinists they'll get letters Saturday telling them whether they have a job and should report to

Friday, May 20th 2005, 10:09 am

By: News On 6

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) _ The buyer of Boeing's aircraft operations in Oklahoma and Kansas is telling machinists they'll get letters Saturday telling them whether they have a job and should report to work Monday.

The surprise move by Canada-based Onex Corporation comes just days before a union vote on Tuesday that could derail the sale of the plants in Tulsa, McAlester, and Wichita, Kansas.

Onex says in a memo to the Wichita plant's nearly 6,000 machinists that they'll receive the letters at their homes tomorrow. Machinists who receive a job offer will be told to report to work as usual on Monday, the others will be told not to report but will continue receving pay and benefits through Boeing until the sale closes.

The Tuesday union vote is on a contract proposal from Onex asking workers to accept a ten percent pay cut and agree to other concessions.

There are about 1,000 employees at Boeing's Tulsa plant and about 200 in McAlester.