‘Keep people working’: Sen. Jerry Moran weighs in on Spirit contract negotiations
A week into contract negotiations between Spirit AeroSystems and the local machinists union, U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran urged a timely agreement that keeps Wichita workers on the job.
Machinists for the aerostructures manufacturing giant, the city’s largest employer, have worked under the same contract for 13 years.
“Business in this world today needs certainty. And so I’m hopeful, would encourage that the company and its unions resolve whatever differences they have and keep people working,” Moran said Monday after speaking to the Rotary Club of Wichita.
Local members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers voted in March to sanction a strike option if agreeable terms for workers cannot be met.
“Our primary objective is to reward our IAM colleagues with a fair and competitive contract as we meet the increased demands from our customers,” CEO Tom Gentile said last week during Spirit’s Q1 earnings call.
Cornell Beard, directing business representative for District 70, declined to share specific union requests but said members don’t want to go another decade plus without contract adjustments.
“The membership is definitely not looking for anything long term,” Beard told The Eagle. “We have been 13 years basically without the true ability to fight, and I believe that this membership is dead set on being compensated and taken care of since they’ve taken care of this company for so long.”
Moran, the lead Republican on the Senate Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations subcommittee, regularly brings aerospace executives to Wichita to showcase the city’s manufacturing capabilities.
“We have had a number of visitors who have encouraged and been pleased whenever union representatives were participating in the meetings,” Moran said Monday.
“It’s valuable for our visitors to see that there’s a sense of unity working together to get a good outcome.”
It was a Spirit employee who, in early April, discovered defective fittings at the vertical tail of a Boeing 737 MAX fuselage in Wichita. The Federal Aviation Administration has determined the defect does not pose an immediate safety or flight issue but 737 deliveries will be slowed as Spirit reworks affected fuselages.
“What tends to happen is a lot of companies, their focus is on moving product rather than the quality of product,” Beard said. “We have some members that have a lot of integrity and are really focused on making sure they put out good work.”
A Spirit spokesperson declined to comment on union negotiations beyond what Gentile said in the earnings call.
Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, did not respond to repeated requests for comment about the negotiations.
This story was originally published May 8, 2023 at 3:03 PM.