Machinists union says fabrication sale off between Spirit, Onex

The International Association of Machinists said in a letter to its members Thursday that Spirit AeroSystems has ended negotiations to sell its fabrication and machining work to Onex Corp. and Advanced Integration Technology.

“Walking away is not an option,” the letter said. “We have roughly 1000 families depending that this be successful.”

The letter doesn’t say why negotiations were ended. Spirit has not confirmed or denied a possible sale of its fabrication and machining work since the Machinists began telling its members in June that such a deal was in the works.

“We continue to explore our make-buy strategy and what differentiates us in the marketplace, and we are testing the market,” Spirit said in an e-mail to The Eagle on Thursday. “We have nothing to announce at this time.”

A spokeswoman for Onex could not be reached Thursday.

The Machinists have said about 900 of the union’s members would be affected by the sale.

The union said in the letter that a successful sale would lead to Onex investing in a 1.5 million-square-foot facility in the Wichita area, future job growth, increased job security for Machinists and “good paying jobs” that would remain in the city. It said the loss of the deal could lead to “massive layoffs” and supply chain disruption for Spirit.

“The Machinists Union is committed to making this work,” Thursday’s letter said. “Spirit and Onex/AIT, show us your dedication to this Work Force and the Community. We can’t get there alone and we’re not going to walk away. That’s not an option …”

Bob Brewer, Midwest director of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, said he was “very disappointed” to learn of the end of sale negotiations.

“I don’t know how you get this far down the road and it falls apart,” Brewer said. “I have a lot more questions than I do answers at this point.”

Brewer said one of his biggest concerns is Spirit finding another buyer that would want to relocate the work altogether.

“If the work goes outside the state … jobs, employees, families and the community will all suffer,” he said.

Onex’s ties to Wichita go back about a decade. It acquired the Wichita commercial aircraft division of Boeing in 2005, which later became Spirit following an initial public offering. It sold the last of its Spirit stock, now a publicly held company, in August 2014.

Onex also partnered with Goldman Sachs in 2007 to acquire the former Raytheon Aircraft from Raytheon Co., renaming it Hawker Beechcraft. Hawker Beechcraft filed for reorganization bankruptcy in May 2012.

In February 2013 the company emerged from bankruptcy as Beechcraft Corp., with Onex and Goldman Sachs holding a small percentage of equity in the reorganized company. Last March, Textron Inc. completed its acquisition of Beechcraft, which is now part of Textron Aviation.

This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Machinists union says fabrication sale off between Spirit, Onex."