Profit-sharing adds to pay for Spirit AeroSystem workers

A good year financially at Spirit AeroSystems meant employees received bonuses on Thursday in what the company said was its largest bonus payout.

For some employees, the bonuses amounted to several thousand dollars.

The Wichita-based aviation supplier said all of its 15,000 employees received some sort of bonus, though a company spokesman said Spirit would not disclose specifics about dollar amounts for competitive reasons.

“We are pleased that as a result of the company’s 2014 performance, all employees globally will share in the largest performance bonus payout in Spirit’s 10-year history,” Spirit said in a statement e-mailed to The Eagle. “Employees contributed to and are benefiting from the company’s improved performance.”

Earlier this month, Spirit announced its 2014 financial results, including a record $6.8 billion in revenue and a $354 million profit in operating income. That was a substantial turn around from 2013, when Spirit posted a $364 million operating loss.

Spirit has about 11,000 employees in Wichita. Its other operations are in Chanute; McAlester and Tulsa, Okla.; Kinston, N.C.; Malaysia; and the United Kingdom.

According to a post on the International Association of Machinsts’ website, the average Machinists employee in Wichita will see a payout of more than $4,500.

The Machinists’ post said the profit-sharing payments cover 7,324 hourly employees at Spirit facilities in Wichita, Chanute and Kinston.

Frank Molina, president of Machinists District 70 in Wichita, said more than 7,000 of them are in Wichita.

Molina said the profit-sharing payout is “by far the largest bonus the group has received at any time” from Spirit.

“We’re just very proud of what our folks do,” he said.

Bob Brewer, Midwest director of SPEEA, said he could not disclose amounts that Spirit employees represented by the engineering and technical and professional bargaining units received, but he estimated the profit-sharing amounts ranged from 6 percent to 12 percent of members’ salaries and overtime pay in 2014.

SPEEA’s two bargaining units represent about 2,375 Spirit employees.

He said the amounts SPEEA-represented employees receive vary because of differences in individual salaries, how well the individual programs at Spirit performed, and what kind of ratings employees received on their individual performance evaluations.

“So there are several variables to this,” Brewer said.

Brewer noted the bonuses this year were larger than last year.

“This is by far the best payout,” Brewer said, adding SPEEA-represented workers had a “small” one last year. “Hopefully the company continues moving in the right direction.”

The bonuses could have a positive effect on local retailers, if only for a short time, said Jeremy Hill, director of Wichita State University’s Center for Economic Development and Business Research.

Hill said even though Spirit employees may have been planning to receive a bonus this year and setting aside some of it for retirement or to pay off debt, they’ll likely still be inclined to spend some of it for large ticket items such as furniture, electronics, autos or boats.

“I would say the majority (of the bonuses) will go to retail,” he said. “They’re still going to go to larger purchases.”

This story was originally published February 26, 2015 at 11:07 AM with the headline "Profit-sharing adds to pay for Spirit AeroSystem workers."